
Class. /,_JS ;' . 
Book_ _„1_:3. 
Gojjyriglit]^'?. 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



The Junior High School 

Its Feasibility in the 
Catholic Educational System 



Dissertation 



Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of 

the Catholic University of America 

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the 



DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH E. HAMILL 
Diocese of Indianapolis 



Washington, D. C, 1922 



The Junior High School 

Its Feasibility in the 
Catholic Educational System 



Dissertation 



Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of 

the Catholic University of America 

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the 



DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH E. HAMILL 
Diocese of Indianapolis 



Washington, D. C, 1922 



PREFACE 

The widespread and thorough consideration given to 
every phase of the junior high school during the past 
thirty years is evidence of its importance. The most 
eminent educators of the country have studied the move- 
ment and written on it. Practically every educational 
association in the country has devoted much time to it 
in its annual meeting. Boards of Education, superin- 
tendents of school systems, the members of various 
teacher organizations have become interested in it. A 
rather extensive junior high school literature has devel- 
oped and attempts have been made by a large number 
of school systems to reorganize in conformity with the 
theory. 

There are many different viewpoints from which this 
institution can be treated. The iDsychological aspect 
presents many unsolved problems. Many philosophical 
•questions in respect to the junior high school remain to 
be settled. The advantages and disadvantages have not 
been fully measured. Numerous administrative prob- 
lems, such as securing or preparing qualified teachers, 
determining methods of teaching, reorganizing the cur- 
riculum, deciding the length of the recitation period, of 
the school day and of the school year, etc., etc., must be 
further studied and much experimentation done before 
a solution of the difficulties involved can l)e reached. 

The discussions of Catholic educators have been 
confined for the most part to a general examination of 
the theory, to some particular defects of the traditional 
system, e. g., retardation, elimination and reorganiza- 
tion of the elementary curriculum. No attempt has been 
made to introduce the junior high school into the Catholic 
system. The yjurpose of this dissertation is to offer a 
general plan whereby this institution might be made a 



part of the Catholic system. With this end in view an 
outline of the history of the movement is presented in 
the first chapter. Its aims are discussed in the second. 
In the third various views concerning the meaning of 
the term, junior high school, are considered. Some of 
the results obtained in junior high schools in the State 
system are presented in the fourth. In the fifth and last 
chapter the purposes of the junior high school are briefly 
discussed in relation to the aims of Catholic education 
and a plan suggested for its establishment in the Catholic 
system. 

The plan suggested is not expected to settle finally 
this immensely important and intricate question, but is 
offered with the hope that it may serve as a practical 
basis for working out the details of a Catholic junior 
high school. 

The writer is pleased to acknowledge his indebted- 
ness to all the professors of the University whose courses 
he followed during his three years residence ; in particu- 
lar he feels indebted to Very Reverend Doctor McCor- 
mick under whose direction his major work was pursued. 
Acknowledgment is made to the writers whose works 
were used, especially to Doctors Thomas H. Briggs, 
Calvin 0. Davis and Aubrey Augustus Douglass. To 
the Right Reverend Joseph Chartrand, D.D., Bishop of 
Indianapolis, the writer is particularly grateful for the 
permission accorded him to spend three years in graduate 
study at the Catholic University of America. 



CHAPTER I 
Origin of the Junior High School Movement 

The three decades between 1830 and 1860 approxi- ^ 
mately represent the period of strui^;i;'le for i-cco.u'iiition 
on the part of the graded system of elementary schools. 
During this period, through the efforts of Horace Mann 
in Massachusetts, Henry Barnard in Connecticut, John 
D. Pierce in Michigan, and Calvin E. Stowe in Ohio, the 
educational forces of the country were gradually con- 
certed into a movement to organize the elementary 
schools on a graded basis. During the early part of this 
period the progress was slow, but by 1860 ''nearly every 
city and town of any consequence in the country, as well 
as many populous rural communities, had its own system 
of elementary schools organized on a graded basis with 
a definite course of study, embracing definite time limits, 
the whole sanctioned and protected by legislative enact^ 
ment."^ 

In less than ten years after the advocates of the 
graded system of elementary schools had won recogni- 
tion for their views, a discussion was started by Harris, 
superintendent of the St. Louis public schools, on its 
disadvantages as it was then established. In his annual 
reports issued between 1868 and 1875, Harris endeavored 
to show that annual promotions with a common standard 
for all children failed to provide for their different 
capacities, temperaments, tastes and mental and physi- 
cal endo^\Tnents. The responsibility for this failure, 
according to Harris, rests upon the supporters of the 
graded school who attempted to provide a system of 
education for the average child, which child does not 
exist. He contended that the system must be so modified 
that it would deal justly, both with the child above the 

1. Bunker, Frank Forest, Beorganization of the Fuhlic School System. 
Bulletin, 1916, No. 8, U. S. Bureau of Education, page 34. 



2 The Junior li'ujh ScJiooJ 

average and with the chikl below the average. As a 
constrnctivo suggestion, he advanced his theory of fre- 
quent classification and frequent promotion whereby, as 
he believed, each child could find his level and not be 
retarded by the superiority of some children or by the 
inferiority of other children. The intent of Harris was to 
provide an arrangement whereby, while children were 
being educated in groups — an economic necessity as well 
as a social advantage — their individual differences would 
receive the proper consideration.^ 

The scholarly treatment of the disadvantages of the 
graded system l^y Harris and his clear and logical ex- 
planation of his theory to remove these disadvantages 
attracted the attention of a large number of eminent 
educators throughout the country. While many of these 
educators found sufficient reason in the arguments of 
Harris to agree with his view^s, others did not hesitate 
to disclose what they considered the shortcomings of the 
plan and some even strenuously opposed its adoption. It 
is noteworthy, however, that practically all the educators 
of the country, who expressed opinions on the theory of 
the St. Louis superintendent, acknowledged the existence 
of the disadvantages he had pointed out, even though all 
could not agree with his views relative to the remedy. 
This general concession is very clearly stated in the 
paper of Hon. E. E. White, of Ohio, read at the Conven- 
tion of the N. E. A. held in Detroit in 1874. Speaking 
in favor of the St. Louis plan of frequent classification 
and frequent promotion, White declared : ''It is believed 
by many experienced superintendents and other intelli- 
gent observers that the universal experience of graded 
schools condemns the prevalent ])ractice of promoting 
children but once a year with a year's interval between 
the classes."-^ 



2. Beport of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1898 to 
1899. Vol. I, page 304. 

3. Ibid. p. 304. 



Its Feasibilitu in the Catholic Educational System 3 

As a result of this general acknowledgment of 
certain deficiencies in the promotional plans of the ele- 
mentary schools, a great many different methods of solv- 
ing the problem were advanced. A rather accurate sum- 
mation of the methods proposed may be found in the 
attempt of Dr. Philbeck in 1885 to harmonize these vary- 
ing views. After reviewing the problems of promotion 
and giving due consideration to prevalent practice, he 
set forth the following conclusions: 

1 — For the lower grades, annual promotion is not 
sufficiently frequent. 

2 — The quarterly promotion is perhaps too frequent, 
especially if carried through all the grammar school 
grades, necessitating quarterly graduation from the 
grammar school and quarterly admission to the high 
school. 

3 — Better than either of these extremes is the plan 
of semi-annual promotions in the lower grades and an- 
nual in the upper. 

4 — It should be understood that a division (that is, 
the body of pupils in one room under one teacher) may 
be composed of pupils belonging to two diiferent grades 
or classes, if the just classification requires such an 
arrangement. 

5 — Promotions should be made both by classes and 
individually. 

6 — In determining the qualification of the pupil for 
promotion, his mental capacity, physical condition and 
age sliould he taken into account, as well as his scholastic 
attainments ; the examiner should ask himself, is this 
pupil capable of doing the work of the next class without 
injury to himself? 

7 — Promotion should not be made on the l)asis of a 
predetermined percentage of examination results. Pro- 



4 The Junior High School 

motion from class to class should be made hy the 
principal. 

8 — Promotion of primary scholars, comprising 
pupils from five to eight or eight and a half years of 
age, should not be made to depend on the result of a 
written examination.^ These conclusions of Philbeck, 
however, did not settle the question. 

Many other plans of frequent promotion by which 
it was hoped to prevent the retardation of the more 
gifted children and not to overwork the less gifted were 
devised a little later and introduced into school systems 
in different parts of the country. In Batavia, New York, 
a plan was introduced by which one-half of the teacher's 
time might be free from class work, and might be devoted 
to helping the pupils in their studies. When the number 
■ of pupils in one class exceeded fifty, an assistant teacher 
was provided for the class so that recitation work and 
assisting pupils in their study could go on simultaneously. 
This plan has been in use for the past twenty years in this 
city and has proven its value in decreasing retardation 
and non-promotion. But it has been criticised on the 
grounds that it tends toward producing average results 
and thus fails to provide for the more gifted children.-^ 

In Pueblo, Colorado, a plan somewhat similar to the 
Batavia plan was worked out. In Pueblo, however, the 
classes were small. Each class was divided into five 
smaller groups of about the same size, and each of these 
smaller groups progressed at different rates of speed. 
The primary aim of this plan is to provide for the needs 
of the individual pupil. It was arranged that children 
could pass from one group to another as their progress 
warranted. The ease with which pupils were transferred 
from one division to another under this plan practically 
eliminated non-^jromotion.^ 



4. Circular of Information, No. 1, 1885, U. S. Bureau of Education. 

5. Cubbory, Ellwood P., Puhlic School Administration, pp. 301-302. 
Houfthton Mifflin Co., New York. 

G. Ibid. p. 302. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 5 

The new Cambridge plan is another effort to over- 
come the problem of retardation and non-promotion. In 
this plan two elementary courses were arranged, one 
consisting of six years, the other of eight. The children 
who were able to finish the elementary school in six years 
were given an opportunity to do so, while those* who 
needed eight years were permitted to proceed at a rate 
compatible with their ability. There must be some fail- 
ures in this plan for it is hardly probable that all children 
will be able to proceed as rapidly as the eight year course 
demands. Provision was made for this contingency to 
some extent by dividing each class into three groups. 
Due to this arrangement the child that fails is obliged 
to repeat only one-third of a year and not an entire year.^ 
This plan has been widely used in large school systems, 
but is obviously unsuited to small systems. 

Similar plans were worked out in Portland, North 
Denver, Elizabethto^\^l, Baltimore, and in several other 
places. The underlying principle is to prevent the re- 
tardation of the brightest children and to provide for the 
differences of children. Each of these plans, in the opin- 
ion of authorities, has some excellent features and has 
produced excellent results where introduced, but no one 
of them proved to be entirely satisfactory .<? 

The period (1860-1890) that marked the attempts to 
remedy the defects of the elementary school may, gen- 
erally speaking, be said to embrace the same years that 
witnessed the struggle for existence of the high school. 
Before 1860 there were few such institutions, although 
the high school movement had begun as early as 1821 
with the establishment of the English classical high 
school of Boston. The number of these schools estab- 
lished between 1860 and 1890 has been variously esti- 
mated by a numlier of writers. However, there seems 
to be no satisfactory data prior to 1890, when the com- 

7. Ibid. pp. 304-305. 

8. Ibid. pp. 305-308. 



6 The Junior High School 

missioiicr of education began to give some figures.^ But 
it was not nntil well on into the last half of the nineteenth 
century that the right of the State to establish high 
schools and to support tliem from the public treasury was 
recognized.^^ These high schools at first, however, 
varied so greatly in regard to time allotment for com- 
pleting their courses that in 1888 the National Educa- 
tional Association adopted a formal resolution demand- 
ing that the high school period be made uniformly four 
years.^^ From that time on to the present, high schools 
have multiplied very rapidly in all parts of the country. 
In 1890 there were 1657^^ high schools in the whole 
country. In 1916 this number had increased to 14,206.^'^ 
During this time special attention was given to the 
problem of satisfying the demands of those who were 
and those who were not preparing for college. 

During approximately the same period (1860-1890) 
that has been designated as the period of development 
of the elementary school and the period of struggle for 
existence of the high school, the president and faculty 
of Harvard University began another very interesting 
and important investigation in the field of higher educa- 
tion. In his report for the scholastic year, 1872-1873, 
President Eliot called attention to the steadily increas- 
ing age at which students enter college. He stated, in 
this report, that ^'the average age of admission has grad- 
ually risen until it is now a little over 18 years, and the 
college faculty, thinking that age to be high enough, do 
not wish to require for admission anything more than a 



9. Inglis, Alexander, "Principles of Secondary Education, p. 194. 
Houghton Mifflin Co., New York. 

10. Johnston, Charles H., and others, "High School Education," p. 
G4. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 

11. Proceedings, N. E. A., 1888, pp. 403-404. 

12. Estimate of Dexter, Edwin G., "A History of Education in the 
United States," p. 173. New York, 1904. 

13. Ecport of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. II, 
p. 543. 



Its Fcasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 7 

boy of eighteen of fair capacity and industry may rea- 
sonably be expected to have learned. "^^ 

Again in 1885-1886, President Eliot noted that the 
average age of admission to college had increased to such 
an extent that ' ' abont two-fifths of the freshmen are over 
nineteen at entrance. "^^ This situation determined the 
faculty to seek for a remedy whereby the average age of 
entrance to college might be reduced to eighteen years. 
Four different proposals were made by the Harvard 
faculty as possible solutions of this particular problem. 
The first three of these proposals were confined chiefly 
to suggested changes within the college itself.^^ The 
fourth proposal was a call to those responsible for ele- 
mentary and secondar}^ education to seek some means of 
saving time in their respective fields. This last plan, 
for remedying the specific problem of decreasing the 
average age at which students enter college, was placed 
before the educational w^orld by President Eliot in 1888 
in that famous address which is commonly considered the 
beginning of the movement to investigate the entire 
school sj^stem of this country with a view to reorganizing 
the three great divisions of education according to their 
natural functions and their true relationships. 

In this address President Eliot declared: ''The 
average age of admission to Harvard College has been 
rising for sixty years past, and has now reached the 
extravagant limit of eighteen years and ten months." 
This condition, he believed, w^as so unreasonable that he 
further declared : "Some remedy is urgently demanded." 
Then, after pointing out the arguments in favor of short- 
ening and enriching the school program. President Eliot 
suggested the following means to accomplish .the neces- 
sary reform : 

14. Harvard Reports, 1872-1873, p. 10. 

15. Harvard Reports, 1885-1886, p. 7. 

16. Bunker, Frank Forest, op. cit., p. 44. 



8 The Junior High School 

1 — Better teachers must be secured. This can be 
done by providing a more secure tenure of office and by 
increasing the proportion of male teachers in the schools. 

2 — More substantial and more interesting programs 
must be provided. 

3 — The time allotted to elementary education must 
be shortened. 



-The erroneous notion of teachers that it is nec- 
essary for the child to master one thing before he goes 
to another and the undue caution of parents on the other 
hand to prevent overpressure must be removed. 

5 — The school hours, which have been decidedly 
shortened during the past two generations, must be 
lengthened.^^ 

This paper of President Eliot was widely read and 
discussed by college and university professors and edu- 
cators throughout the country.^^ His emphasis of the 
importance of the problem and a realization that the 
existence of many deficiencies in the several divisions of 
the educational system had been acknowledged for a long 
time, caused the leading educators of the country to turn 
their attention to a consideration of the entire range of 
the school system in order to determine what should be 
done. 

In 1892, the National Educational Association ap- 
pointed a committee of ten to investigate the secondary 
schools of the country. Owing to the close relationship 
of these schools to the elementary schools on the one side 
and to the colleges on the other, this investigation neces- 
sarily involved the study of many problems that affect 
the whole educational system. The recommendation of 
this committee that directly affected the elementary 



17. Address in full in Proceedings of the Department of Superinten- 
dence of the National Educational Association, 1888, pp. 101-118. 

18. Bunker, Frank F., op. cit., p. 47. 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 9 

schools and the high schools was the following: "In the 
opinion of the committee, several subjects now reserved 
for the high school, such as algebra, geometry, natural 
science and foreign languages should be begun earlier 
than now; or as an alternative, the secondary school 
period should be made to begin two years earlier than at 
present, leaving six years instead of eight for the elemen- 
tary school period. "^'^ 

This report, wiiich received considerable attention 
in all parts of the country, and which w^as discussed 
quite generally in educational publications l)y well-knoAvn 
writers, was proba])ly responsible for the appointment in 
the same year of the committee of fifteen on elementary 
education by the department of superintendence of the 
National Educational Association. This committee for- 
mulated a series of questions which w^ere sent to repre- 
sentative school men and women in all sections of the 
country. The report of the committee was based to a 
great extent upon the replies to these questions and for 
this reason, the opinion expressed by the committee may 
be considered fairly representative of the general senti- 
ment of the country. In view of the answers received to 
the direct qustion: "Should the elementary course be 
eight years and the secondary course four years, as at 
present? Or should the elementary course be six years 
and the secondary course six years ?""'^ The committee 
reported: "Your committee is agreed that the time de- 
voted, to elementary school work should not be reduced 
from eight years, but they have recommended, as herein- 
before stated, that in the seventh and eighth years a 
modified form of algebra be introduced in place of ad- 
vanced arithmetic and that in the eighth year English 
grammar yield place to Latin. This makes, in their 
opinion, a proper transition to the studies of the secon- 
dary school and is calculated to assist the pupil materially 

19. Beport of the Committee of Ten, p. 45. 

20. Report of the Committee of Fifteen on Elementary Education, 
p. 10. 



10 The Junior High School 

in liis preparation for that work. Hitherto the change 
from the work of the elementary school has been too 
abrupt. "^^ On the question of differentiated courses and 
departmental teaching, the members of the committee 
did not agree/^ 

The next study made under the auspices of the Na- 
tional Educational Association was in charge of a com- 
mittee on college entrance requirements. The findings 
of this committee were presented to the department of 
secondary education of the N. E. A. at the meeting of the 
Association held in Los Angeles in 1899. In this report 
it was strongly recommended : *^That the last two grades 
that now precede the high school should be incorporated 
in it. "^'^ One reason given for this view was that the 
work required in the high school was in the judgment of 
the committee more than could be done in the period of 
time allotted to it. Ijn addition to this argument from 
authority, the committee held that the child reaches a 
natural turning point in his life at the end of the sixth 
grade rather than at the end of the ninth ; that this new 
arrangement of time would permit other changes which 
would provide for an easy transition from the elemen- 
tary to the secondary school; that this arrangement 
would tend to lessen elimination, and finally that it would 
provide a better articulated system of education.^^ 
X The second period of the discussion of the problem 

raised by President Eliot was devoted to the considera- 
tion of practical ways and means of bringing about this 
dosired reorganization of the school system. This period 
extended approximately from 1900 to 1912.^^ During the 
first four years practically every phase of the question 
of reorganization received consideration and nearly all 
of the present-day arguments for and against a reorgan- 



21. Ibid. p. 95. 

22. Ibid. p. 196. 

23. Beport of the Committee on College Entrance Becjuirements. p. 2?,. 

24. Ibid. p. 30, et soq. 

25. Bunker, Frank F., op. cit., p. 73. 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 11 

ization of both the elementary and the high school may 
be found in the literature dealing with the question/^ 
The tendency to shorten the time allotted to elementary 
education gradually grew very much stronger from 1900 
to 1910 and in 1914, Kingsley stated that the old plan of 
devoting eight years to elementary and four years to 
secondary education was rapidly becoming obsolete/" 

The National Educational Association continued its 
investigation during this second period through the Na- 
tional Council of Education and the Department of 
Secondary Education. The progress of the movement 
was also aided by the studies of the University of 
Chicago and its affiliated schools under the leadership 
of President Harper, as well as by the work of the New 
York and Brooklyn Teachers' Association. Furthermore, 
the contributions of Professor Dewey, of Superintendent 
Greenwood, of Kansas City, and the paper of Dr. Little 
'* Should the Course of Study be Equally Divided Be- 
tween the Elementary School and the Secondary 
School!" together Avith the work of President Baker, 
Drs. Hanus, Snedden and Prichett, and many other edu- 
cators and educational associations, laid the foundation 
for the practical experiments which were to be made 
during the third period of this movement. 

During these first two decades, however, effort was 
not confined entirely to theoretical discussion. Besides 
the frequent promotion plans adopted at Batavia, Cam- 
bridge, Pueblo and elsewhere, a number of other attempts 
were made by superintendents in different parts of the 
country to improve conditions in the schools under their 
direction. There was a general tendency in those places 
where nine years had been given to elementary educa- 
tion to reduce the time to eight and in the South where 
the high school course was quite generally limited to 

26. Douglass, Aubrey A., TJie Junior High School, p. 11. Fifteenth 
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part III. 
Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

27. Proceedings of the N. E. A. 1914, pp. 483-488. 



12 The Junior High School 

three years, there was a noticeable tendency to add a 
year and thus conform to common practice. Then too, 
plans were devised in a number of cities to make their 
systems of promotion so flexible that some children might 
complete the elementary course in a shorter time and 
certain other children might be given more time than 
was generally required/^ 

Out of all the discussion and experiment, therefore, 
of the first two periods of this movement came a rather 
definite opinion that the best solution of the problem lay 
in lengthening the time devoted to secondary education 
and shortening the time commonly given to elementary 
school work, and a number of cities at a comparatively 
early date began to reconstruct their school systems in 
accordance with this new theory. In these attempts at 
reorganization, the junior high school was born because, 
in almost every instance where an attempt was made to 
improve the existing system, are found one or more of 
the features that are now quite commonly accepted as 
characteristics of this institution. 

In Richmond, Indiana, since 1896, the seventh and 
eighth grades have been housed in a separate building 
centrally located where the work is carried on depart- 
mentally. Then, too, different courses of study have been 
offered ^'a Latin course, a German course, and one in 
which the study of English predominates. "-•'' In June, 
1898, a six-year high school course of study was adopted 
for the six upper grades in Saginaw, Michigan ; between 
1896 and 1910, seventeen other cities are mentioned by 
(Bunker as having similarly reorganized, illustrating the 
tendency to depart from the 8-4 plan.-^^ /Douglass, how- 
ever, contends that from the standpoint of the present 
conception of the Junior High School, the pioneers are 
Columbus, Ohio (1909); Berkeley, California (1910); 

28. Bunker, op. cit., p. 76. 

29. Mott, T. A., Correlation of high school and grammar school work. 
Proceedings, N. E. A., 1901, p. 277. 

30. Bunker, op. cit., pp. 79 to 87. 

J 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 13 

Concord, N. H. (1910), and Los Angelcn, California 
1911)/^ Inglis agrees with Douglass. In this connec- 
tion he states: "While numerous attempts had been 
made previously in different parts of the country to re- 
organize the work of the late grades of the elementary, 
the real beginning of the present junior high school or 
intermediate school movement is probably to be found 
in the reorganization of the school systems in Columbus, 
Ohio (1908); Berkeley, California (1910); Concord, 
New Hampshire (1910), and Los Angeles, California 
(1911)."^^ 

From 1910 up to the outbreak of the World War, the 
number of places that reorganized their educational sys- 
tems in whole or in part increased from year to year. 
The progress of the movement was interrupted during 
the period of the war, but now there are evident signs 
of the resumption of the work of establishing junior high 
schools, especially in the larger cities. 

To show the rapid progress of the junior high school 
movement, its advocates have compiled a number of 
statistical tables, a few of which are reproduced here. 
None of these tables pretends to be mathematically exact, 
nor is it claimed that every school listed is a full-fledged 
junior high school. Assuming that every city or town 
which claims to have a junior high school really has one, 
or at least has made some effort to readjust its school 
system in accord with this theory, it seems clear that the 
new movement has been very widely accepted in a rather 
short space of time. 

The following table is taken from Douglass.-''^ It 
shows the years of organization of 159 junior high 
schools : 



31. Douglass, op. cit., jip. 25 and 26s 

32. Inglis, Alexander, Frinciples of Secondary Education, p. 292. 
Houghton Mifflin Co., New York. 

33. Douglass, A., op. cit., p. 25. 



14 



The Junior High School 



is:)6 


'98 


'9<) 1900 


'02 


'04 


'07 


'08 


'09 


'10 


'11 


'12 


'13 


'14 


'15 


'16 


1 


2 


1 1 


2 


1 


2 


3 


2 


4 


6 


14 


31 


41 


36 


13 



Beiiiiett-^^ gives a list of the junior high schools in 
existence in 1916. ' ' Reports show them distributed among 
the States as follows": 



Indiana 24 

Minnesota 24 

North Dakota ... 20 
Pennsylvania ... 16 

California 15 

Kansas 13 

New York 13 

Illinois 9 

Massachusetts ... 8 

Michigan 8 

Oregon 7 

Idaho 6 

Nebraska 6 



New Jersey 6 

Ohio 5 

OkUihoma 5 

Tennessee 5 

Texas 5 

Colorado 4 

Missouri 4 

Montana 4 

South Dakota ... 4 

Utah 4 

Virginia 4 

Wyoming 4 

Washington 3 



Iowa 3 

Connecticut 2 

Kentucky 2 

Maine 2 

Vermont 2 

Alabama 1 

Arizona 1 

Arkansas 1 

Florida 1 

Georgia 1 

New Hampshire . 1 
Rhode Island ... 1 



According to the above table, there were 254 junior 
high schools in existence in 1916, and these were distrib- 
uted throughout 38 States. The following year, Briggs 
found that there were 791 schools of this type in the 
United States and one or more was established in each 
of the 48 States. The distribution of these 791 junior 
high schools among tlie different States is shown in table 
No. VII, p. 61, in Briggs' work on the junior high school. 
Assuming that these two tabulations are equally ac- 
curate, it seems reasonable to conclude that the changes 
in so far, at least, as the extent of the movement is con- 
cerned, are taking place so rapidly that any calculation 
of the number of junior high schools in existence will 
be quite unreliable after the lapse of one year. For tlic 



34. Bcnnott, G. Voniou, TIic Junior Tligh ScJiool, p. .'i9. Bultin^ore, 
Warwick aud York, 1919. 



Beiggs' Table (1917) 

Indiana 46 

California 51 



Its Feasibiliti) in the Catholic Educational System L3 

sake of illustration, a few of the more notable changes 
shown in the two lists are set down in the following two 
columns : 

Bennett's Table (1916) 

Indiana 24 

California 15 

Massachusetts Si Massachusetts 79 

New York 13 i New York 47 

Iowa 3 j Iowa 40 

Illinois 9 Illinois 29 

Ohio 5 Ohio 34 

Utah 4 Utah 31 

Oklahoma 5 Oklahoma 25 

Missouri 4 | Missouri 21 

Probably the latest attempt that has been made to 
list the junior high schools in this country is found in 
''The Junior High Clearing House" for April, 1920. 
Here these schools are enumerated according to the size 
of the city or town in which they are located. The fol- 
lowing table is compiled from the data contained in this 
list: 

Table 



Population 


No. of Schools 


100,000 or more 


81 


30,000 - 100,000 


91 


10,000- 30,000 


88 


5,000- 10,000 


101 



The total according to this reckoning is 361. It must 
be noted, however, that only places of 5,000 or more 
inhabitants are mentioned. According to this same pub- 
lication: "There are upwards of 2,000 schools in the 
United States which have junior high schools in name 
or in fact."-^^ 



35. The Junior Cloariug- liouse, Vol. 1, March to April, 1921, No. 8, 
p. 4. 



16 The Junior High School 

The number of variations in the attempts made to 
determine the extent of this movement is very large and 
clearly shows that there is as yet no common acceptation 
of the meaning of the term ''Junior High School." This 
is the condition at the present time. It seems to indicate 
quite clearly that attention just now is centered upon 
testing the workahility of every proposal suggested. The 
underlying principles of the theory are generally ac- 
cepted. The many plans devised to translate these prin- 
ciples into practice are being tested in the laboratory 
of the school room. The junior high school is still in the 
developmental stage. Nevertheless the experimeiits that 
have already been made are sufficient to suggest that the 
junior high school in some form will soon be an integral 
part of the school sj^stem in this country. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 17 

CHAPTER II 

The Purposes of the Junior High School 

The criticisms that have been hurled at the school 
system in our country during the past thirty years leave 
no doubt that there exists a wide-spread dissatisfaction 
with the waste in education and with the results obtained 
under the conventional type of school organization. The 
literature of this period is filled Avith complaints from 
men in all walks of life that our educational system is 
not efficient, that it is not economical. The practical 
efforts made to secure better methods of grading and 
greater flexibility in promotion; the introduction of de- 
partmental teaching and modified forms of election in 
the upper grades of the elementary school ; the attempts 
to enrich the curriculum ; and the introduction of manual 
training in the seventh and eighth grades are further 
evidence of the general conviction that the existing sys- 
tem was far from perfect. 

This general dissatisfaction was naturally followed 
by a strong demand for remedies. In an attempt to meet 
this demand, the educators of the country started a move- 
ment for complete reorganization of our educational 
system — elementary, secondary and higher. The result 
of the theoretic discussion and experimentation, occa- 
sioned by this movement, will be, it is hoped, an educa- 
tional system in which the divisicjiis will be determined, 
not by any arbitrary method, but by their natural func- 
tions and their natural relationship. 

The three-fold division of the educative process, ele- 
mentary, secondary and higher, has been accepted from 
very early times, but every attempt to determine the 
boundary lines of each division has been unsatisfactory. 
An exact definition of elementary education, of secon- 
dary education, and of higher education is indispensable 



18 The Junior High School 

for satisfactory reorganization. A clear distinction be- 
tween elementary and secondary education is particularly 
important for the phase of the movement with which the 
junior high school is concerned. Hence, it will be nec- 
essary to point out the bases upon which this distinction 
is made in order to define the purposes of the junior high 
school. 

One basis, commonly used in the past, is the chrono- 
logical age of the student. The failure of this criterion is 
clearly seen in the actual age-grade distribution of chil- 
dren in the United States. Ingiis^ found that children 
twelve and thirteen yeai's of age are found in every grade 
f I'om the first in the elementary school to the second year 
in higli school; children of fourteen, from the first year in 
school to the third year in high school ; and in all grades 
he found some pupils fifteen, sixteen and seventeen years 
old. 

In a similar way, it has been shown that distinction 
based on social factors, though of considerable impor- 
tance in other countries, until quite recently at least, is 
insignificant in this country. Neither does the distinction 
based upon studies conform to present day theory, 
although as late as 1912, the Federal Bureau formulated 
this definition of a secondary or high school student: 
''Secondary student (or high school student) should be 
taken as meaning a student who has completed an ele- 
mentary school course of at least seven years in length 
(ordinarily eight) or its equivalent, and has pursued 
within the last year two recognized high school studies ; 
e. g., Latin, French, Algebra, Geometry, Physical Geog- 
raphy, Physics or General History."^ 

The psychological and physiological development of 
the children is another basis for a distinction. It has 
been more frequently and persistently defended as the 



1. Prini-iples of Sccondarij Educatiov, j). 5. Houghton Mifflin Co., 
N. Y. 

L\ Bulletin U. S. Bureau of Educ-ation, No. 22, p. 5 (1912). 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 19 

true basis for the distinction than any other one factor. 
Examination of chiklren in school, however, has revealed 
the fact that the majority of children in the elementary 
school are immature and the majority in the high school 
are mature. And these investigations have further 
demonstrated that the pupils of the last two grades of 
the elementary school and the first of the high school are 
so mixed that a distinction between elementary and 
secondary education based upon the stage of development 
of the children is impossible at this most important 
point.-? Moreover, Inglis found that the children in the 
first six grades are nearly all immature and those in the 
last three grades of the high school are nearly all ma- 
ture.^ This would leave a group of children approxi- 
mately twelve to fifteen years of age who might be classed 
as intermediate pupils, i. e., neither elementary nor 
secondary, but between the two. Only in general are 
these last two statements true for Crampton,^ also 
Douglass, has shown from figures that physiological and 
chronological age do not coincide.^ Hence, physiological 
and psychological development, although very important 
factors, do not otf er a sufficient basis upon which to make 
the distinction. 

These bases of distinction are the principal ones that 
have been advocated. But no one of them has been gen- 
erally accepted. Now, in order to establish a uniform 
•basis of distinction, and one which seems to conform to 
scientific educational theory, the advocates of the junior 
high school idea have adopted tentatively a definition of 
elementary education and secondary education. Elemen- 
tary education, according to them, is that portion of the 
educative process which is proper for childhood and con- 

3. Iiiolis^ op. cit., pp. 61-62. 

4. Ibid. p. 262. 

5. Crampton, C. W., Anatomical or phy.<iiological age versus chrovo- 
logical age. Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 15, pp. 230-237. 

6. Douglass, The Junior High School, Fifteenth vearhook, Nat. Soc. 
for the Study of Ed. Part III, pp. 39-44. 



20 The Junior High School 

sists in the acquisition of the tools of education together 
with those habits, attitudes, facts and ideals that are 
necessary for social solidarity. Secondary education is 
that portion of the educative process which is proper to 
the adolescent period and consists in providing for the 
ditferent capacities, aptitudes and interests of the indi- 
vidual. ; 

These same authorities further contend that it is 
not just a matter of establishing a boundary line betw^een 
elementary and secondary education, but that the organ- 
ization within these divisions is not functioning as it 
should in the lives of the students. It is very evident 
that modern life has become so complex through the com- 
paratively recent industrial, economic and social changes 
that a larger and ever-increasing number of burdens are 
being placed upon the school. The function of the school 
of today, therefore, is quite different from what it was 
a few decades ago. The conditions of living have become 
so much more complex, so much more intricate, that the 
home has been obliged to delegate to the school many 
features of the child's education which, in times past, 
were provided for very satisfactorily in the home by the 
father and mother. Hence it seems quite reasonable that 
the school, which supplied the educational needs of the 
children who lived under conditions of comparative sim- 
plicity in the past, is entirely inadequate to satisfy the 
demands of the children of the present day. f To assist 
then in providing a more efficient and more economical 
system of education, to establish a more reasonable 
boundary line between elementary and secondary educa- 
tion, and at the same time to meet the increasing demands 
of modern life on the school, the junior high school 
movement was inaugurated. It is but one link in the 
chain of innovations which are attempting a complete 
readjustment of the entire educational system of the 
country. 



Its Fcasihility in the Catholic Educational Siji^tem 21 

Generally speaking, it is the purpose of the jmiior 
high school to remedy the defects of the conventional 
type of organization in the elementary and secondary 
schools. For this reason it is deemed necessary to out- 
line the defects of the existing system. 

The first defect, from a chronological point of view, 
to receive serious consideration was the waste of time 
in the eight-four plan of organization. The most com- 
mon argument to substantiate the reality of this defect 
rests upon the results of a number of comparative studies 
of educational systems Avhich have demonstrated that 
secondary education is begun at a later period in the 
child's life in this country than in any other country. 
The German youth begins his secondary education at the 
age of nine or ten ; the French youth at the age of ten or 
eleven ; while in the United States boys and girls usually 
do not enter high school until they have reached the age 
of fourteen or fifteen. The opinions of prominent edu- 
cators add weight to this argument. Claxton believes 
"a careful study of schools in various parts of the coun- 
try will reveal the fact that children now mark time to a 
large extent through the seventh and eighth grades.^ 
Koos^ goes even further than Claxton and says : ' ' There 
is: ample evidence that eight years is more than should 
be devoted to equipping a normal child with such com- 
mand of these tools (of education) as he will need to 
make possible his larger functional education." The 
report^ of the .(Committee on Economy of Time in Educa- 
tion declared: "six yeai's is sufficient for the normal 
child." i This report of the committee is based upon the 
replies ~'of a large number of educators thronghout the 
country to a questionnaire. These answers indicate that 
five-sixths of those who responded believe there is waste 

7. Claxton, P. P., Junior High Cloariug House, Vol. I, No. 2, p. 14. 
April, 1920. 

8. The Junior Tligh School, pp. 31-32. 

9. Eeport of the Committee on Economy of Time in Education, p. 65. 
U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 38, 1913. 



'22 The Junior Jlifjh l^^choo! 

of time ill the elementary schools and two-thirds of them 
think the time should be shortened. It seems, therefore, 
to be generally admitted that too much time is given to 
elementary education in the present system. 

This rather general c<mviction that time was being 
wasted in the schools occasioned a nnmber of investi- 
gations to determine the causes of this waste so that 
proper remedies might be applied. A number of studies 
of the content of the different subjects of the curriculum, 
such as Charters and Miller^^ made of the errors in 
English common to children in the elementary school, 
Ayers'^^ study showing the large number of words unnec- 
essary taught ill spelling, and Wilson 's^^ finding of much 
non-essential matter in arithmetic, furnish evidence that 
considerable time is spent in teaching non-essential por- 
tions of the various subjects. 

Another cause of waste of time in the elementary 
school is found in the many reviews and in the undue 
amount of drill work with wdiich the curriculum is 
crowded. The frequency of these reviews and the unnec- 
essary amount of drill work, it is claimed, will be evident 
to any one who takes the time to examine a number of 
elementary school courses.^'^ On this topic Hill^^ dis- 
covered that in 169 representative courses of study 40 
per cent of the work assigned for the seventh and eighth 
grades is review. Hill concludes that ''to argue that this 
amount of review is needed in these grades is a sad com- 
mentary on the work of the lower grades." 



10. Charters, W. W. and Miller, E., '*A Course of Study in Grammar 
Based upon the Grammatical Errors of School Children of Kansas City, 
Missouri." Bulletin of the University of Missouri, Vol. XVI, No. 2. 

11. Ayers, Leonard P., "Measurement of Ability in Spelling." Rus- 
sel Sago Foundation. 

12. Wilson, G. M., "/( Survey of the Social and Business Use of 
Arithmetic." Sixteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study 
of Education, Part II, Chapter VIII. 

13. Cf. Article of Carohni II oof or in Elementary School Journal, Vol. 
XIX, pp. 545-54. 

14. State Normal School, Springfield, Missouri, Bulletin for October, 
1915. 



Its Feasihilitjj in the Catholic Educational System 23 

Other causes are mentioned in the answers received 
by the Committee on Economy of Time in Education.^-^ 
The following" appear to be typical: time is wasted 
through "odds and ends, fads and frills generally." 
"Among the causes (of waste of time) are: poor teach- 
ing, poor text-books, needless multiplication of the sub- 
jects taught, lack of continuity in its grades, such that 
new personalities and new methods, as the pupils 
advance, result in undoing what has already been done 
and producing confusion rather than progress." There 
is "waste in the elementary school, on account of the lack 
of great, strong, enthusiastic teachers." Finally it is 
reported that "one of the greatest sources of waste is 
due to lack of medical inspection of school children." 

While no one of the arguments brought forth to 
prove that there is a waste of time in the elementary 
schools would be sufficient to settle the question finally, 
still when the weight of the accumulative argument is 
considered, the advocates of reorganization believe, little 
doubt can remain that waste of time is a real defect of 
the present plan of elementary school organization in this 
country. 

One of the specific purposes then of the junior high 
school is to remedy this outstanding defect. It proposes 
to save one or even two years of time. Difiterent plans 
have been suggested for the accomplishment of this task. 
One plan would combine grades six, seven, eight and 
nine in a way to permit the work of these four grades 
to be done in three years, in the ordinary elementary 
school. Upon the completion of the course in the elemen- 
tary school the child enters the regular tenth grade of the 
high school. Another plan that has been looked upon 
with considerable favor is one in which grades seven, 
eight, nine and ten are combined and the matter of these 



15. Eeport of the Committee, p. 65. 



26 The Junior High School 

between the best and the worst in a large nnmljer of 
mental tests given to thousands of individuals may bo 
seen in any of the works on mental measurements. In 
view of the results of these mental tests, Starch-^ says: 
"The investigation of this problem in recent years has 
l)rought out the fact that the differences among humaii 
beings are very much greater than has commonly been 
thought. If Ave measure a group of pupils in a given 
class or grade, we find that on the average the best pupil 
is able to do from two to twenty-five times as much as 
the poorest pupil, or is able to do the same task from 
two to twenty-five times as well as the poorest pupil." 

It is equally true that children differ in the keenness 
of their powers of sensation; there are differences due 
to experiences encountered before they entered school, 
to peculiar advantages or disadvantages of home life, 
to physical and mental defects; and, finally, children 
differ in their capacities, tastes and interests. 

That these individual differences of children must be 
recognized and, as far as possible, be provided for by 
the school seems to be obvious. To some extent, these 
differences must receive consideration in the elementary 
school, and, as is well known, attempts have been made 
to provide for them through frequent promotional plans, 
the establishment of special classes, by individualizing 
the recitation, and by making assignments in the light 
of individual needs. 

These devices are insufficient for the seventh and 
eighth grades of the elementary school, it is claimed by 
the advocates of the junior high school. Something more 
is needed along the line of differentiation for children of 
these ages, something which the traditional school is not 
able to provide. Briggs does not hesitate to say that 
"even the beginning of differentiation is impossible in 



21. Educational Psychology, pp. 28 and 29, New York. Macmillau Co., 
]019. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 27 

the usual elementary school. "^^ By gathering together 
large numbers of children of approximately the same 
stage of development into one school building it will be 
possible to form classes m which the pupils will be of 
about the same ability. 'This method of organization 
provides the necessary conditions for departmental 
teaching; it makes possible some election of studies; then 
too a much enriched and enlarged program of studies 
can be offered in the junior high school ; supervised study 
is cared for ; especially qualified teachers are employed ; 
there is room for vocational training and vocational 
guidance. It is by means of these features of its organ- 
ization that the junior high school is expected to make at 
least a nearer approach than the traditional school to 
giving every child the kind of education demanded by 
his peculiar needs. 

Before the differences in children can be properly 
provided for they must be known. Granted that there 
are differences in seventh and eighth grade pupils suffi- 
ciently important to demand special recognition by the 
school, it surely follows that the school must provide 
for their discovery. Not even the better elementary 
eight year elementary schools, it is claimed, can ade- 
quately perform this function. On the other hand the 
junior high school, through the features just enumer- 
ated, so its defenders say, wdll achieve this purpose. 

Recent studies have pointed out another condition 
which is considered a defect in the elementary school. 
Children were supposed to have completed the elemen- 
tary course of study at the end of their eighth year 
in school, but statistics show that this is far from 
being the case. In the public schools in the State of 
Michigan, it was found that the proportion of those 
under-age, normal-age, and over-age in 227 cities and 



22. Op. cit., p. 171. 



28 The Junior High School 

toTvns \\itli au enrollment of 223,000 pupils was as 
follows :~-^ 

Under Age Normal Age Over Age 

2 vears 1 vear 1 vr. 2 vrs. 3 vrs. 

'.2 6.3 69.5 li.5 6.0 3.5 

These figures illustrate the fact that children in large 
numbers, who should be in high school, are still lingering 
on in one grade or another of the elementary school.^^ 
"While it must be remembered that many causes of re- 
tardation are beyond the control of the school, as sick- 
ness, late entrance, certain physical defects, and less than 
average mental endowments, it is generally conceded 
that, due to the traditional type of organization, many 
children are permitted to remain in the same grade for 
two, three, and even four years without appreciable 
benefit. 

The junior high school, it is believed, will be a strong 
means of preventing retardation when the causes of this 
evil are such as can be controlled. For instance, this 
form of organization will relieve the congested conditions 
by removing the seventh and eighth grades from the 
elementary school and the ninth grade from the high 
school: it will make possible the classification of pupils 
in homogeneous groups; it will provide differentiated 
courses of study. Furthermore, it is claimed that better 
teaching will result from the junior high school plan 
and this, of itself, must contribute no small share toward 
the reduction of retardation. Poor teaching is recog- 
nized as one of the leading causes of retardation in the 
ordinary school. Xot only will the retardation of seventh 
and eighth grade pupils be lessened, but the conditions 
in the lower grades are also expected to be remedied to 
some extent through the establishment of junior high 
schools. 



23. Berrv. A Study of Retardation, Acceleration, Elimination and 
Repetition in the PuhUc Elementary Schools of Michipon. Ann Arbor. 
Micli.. 1916. 

C-i. Inglis, op. cit.. pp. 5-7. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 29 

Closely related to retardation is another condition 
commonly considered a defect of tlie conventional plan 
of elementary school organization. The large number of 
children who leave school before they have completed 
even the elementary course and the still greater number 
that never enters high school are generally accepted as 
evidence that the organization and the method of proce- 
dure in our schools are wrong. Under any school sys- 
tem, there will necessarily be a certain amount of elimina- 
tion, due to such uncontrollable factors as death, 
economic conditions, change of residence, and^ other 
similar causes, but such factors alone are insufficient to 
explain the amount of elimination, found in the schools 
of the United States. The general condition of the 
schools of the country relative to elimination may be seen 
in the diagram designed for bulletin No. 24 (1920), U. S. 
Bureau of Education. This graph shows the per cent 
of children of each age from 5 to 20 years enrolled in the 
public schools of 80 cities in 1918. The conditions in 
these 80 cities are probably typical of conditions in city 
school systems of the country.^^ 

25. Statistics of City School Systems. Bulletin 1920, No. 24, p. 94, 
U. S. Bureau of Education. 



30 



The Junior High School 




/ess 



S 9 



to II iz t3 f4 If (6 /7 '9 fJ 20 & 



nja 



Eifiyyiaied ioeKcef^ta<^ e. of chi/dt^e/i of 

each cige enfol/ed itifhe public schools of- 
SOcitlei tn 19/8. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 31 

Among the causes of elimination for which the school 
is believed to he accountable, are unnecessary retarda- 
tion, failure to provide for individual differences, ineffi- 
cient enforcement of. attendance laws, and .(the lack of 
proper articulation between the elementary and the 
secondary schools. The changed conditions to which the 
pupil must adjust himself on entering high school are 
so numerous and abrupt that scarcely tifty per cent of 
the pupils are able to meet them^^ Every one recognizes 
that the methods of teaching in the high school must 
differ from those in the elementary school. Departmental 
teaching is generally accepted as a necessity; so too is 
some form of election of courses or subjects ; the subject- 
matter itself is almost entirely new; different buildings 
must be used; the form of discipline must change; in a 
word a completely new environment must be entered. 
Every one of these adjustments, it is true, must be made, 
but that they must all be made at one time is not so 
certain. The very fact that, under the existing plan of 
school organization, the cliild is required to make so 
many new adjustments abruptly is believed to be the 
cause of no small amount of unjustifiable elimination. 

As indicated before, the features of the junior high 
school are not of such a nature that a particular feature 
or combination of features is designed to accomplish 
one purpose without having any bearing on other pur- 
poses of the institution. There is necessarily an over- 
lapping. By the very fact that the junior high school 
provides ways and means for the prevention of retarda- 
tion, it tends to reduce elimination, for retardation is 
recognized as a cause of elimination. In like manner 
provision for individual differences must have a whole- 
some effect on elimination. To provide a remedy for 
this particular defect, however, is one of the chief aims 
of this institution, especially in grades seven, eight and 
nine, where the bulk of elimination takes place. The 



26. Inglis, op. cit., p. 128. 



32 The Junior High School 

special measure for the accomplishment of this purpose 
is commonly spoken of as "bridging the gap'- between 
the elementary and secondary schools. It consists in 
making possible a gradual transition from one division 
of the school to the other through the introduction of 
partial departmental teaching, methods of teaching 
especially adapted to the adolescent, and such a reorgan- 
ization of the curriculum as will avoid the necessity, on 
the part of the child, of beginning a large numl)er of new 
subjects at the same time. 

In addition to the purposes treated, which seem to 
have received the widest consideration, a number of 
others are mentioned by different writers on the subject. 
The junior high school is intended to relieve the con- 
gested conditions of the schools ; to utilize old high school 
buildings that have been replaced by new ones and are 
too good to be torn down; to atfect financial economy; 
to provide for better teaching; to hasten needed reform 
in both the elementary and high schools ; to offer the 
necessary conditions for supervised study, explorational 
guidance, pre-vocatioiial work at an earlier age; to make 
easier desired reforms ; to separate, for educational pur- 
poses, the adolescents from younger and older children ; 
to encourage initiative ; to provide for the gradual change 
from dependence on others to dependence on self; and to 
provide for the separation of the sexes.^^ 

Briefly, then, the purpose of the junior high school 
is to remedy tJie defects of the traditional scliool and to 
provide for the peculiar needs of adolescents. This 
implies that the junior high school will effect a saving o'' 
time ; that it will offer the means of providing the neces- 
sary amount of differentiation for children from 12 to 
15 years of age; that it will close the so-called gap that 
exists between the elementary and high schools ; that it 
will necessitate a complete reorganization of the curricu- 
lum; that it will afford equal opportunity to all children 

'27. Koos, op. cit., pp. 18-19. 



Its Feasibilitjj in the Cathvlic Educational System 33 

for an education; and finally that all children who are 
compelled to leave school at the end of the junior high 
school course will have been prepared as well as they 
could be for their future lives. In a word the junior 
high school is expected to bring about such changes in 
the school system as will enable every child to receive 
the best education his circumstances will permit, wdth 
the least possible outlay of time, money and energy. Even 
the most enthusiastic supporters of the junior high 
school, of course, do not claim that it is a sure cure for 
all educational ills ; but they do claim the theory to be so 
far superior to the theory undGrl3dng the common prac- 
tice of today that the results which may reasonably be 
expected from the junior high school are more than 
sufficient to warrant its introduction. 



34 The Junior High School 

CHAPTER III 

What Is the Junior High School? 

The junior high school, as was indicated in the two 
preceding* chapters, is the outgrowth of a rather general 
dissatisfaction with the organization of our educational 
system. When the fact became known that this system 
was not functioning satisfactorily, educators began an 
investigation to determine the reasons for this failure. 
These investigations revealed many defects in the entire 
educational organization, but attention was gradually 
focussed on the last two grades of the elementary and 
the first grade of the high schools. From an analysis of 
the weaknesses discovered at these points, a conviction 
was formed that a complete reorganization of elementary 
and secondary education was necessary. The efforts to 
work out a plan by which this reorganization might be 
accomplished and the apparent defects removed, brought 
forth an entirely new institution — the junior high school. 
The purpose of this chapter is an attempt to answer the 
question — what is a junior high school! 

At the present time there does not exist a generally 
accepted or uniform definition of this new institution. 
There are two kinds of definitions, however, which are 
available. One may be designated the theoretical, be- 
cause it is based almost entirely on the opinions of 
specialists in this field ; the other may be called the prac- 
tical definition because it is based largely on conditions 
actually found in those institutions that are known as 
junior high schools. Neither ^f these definitions is en- 
tirely satisfactory. They do, however, reveal the fact 
that the conceptions of this new institution are as yet 
both varied and incomplete. 

Many definitions of the junior high school have been 
formulated by individuals interested in the reorganiza- 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 35 

tion movement. These necessarily reflect the personal 
opinions of their authors, and the particular educational 
philosophy and psychology upon which they are based. 
Some of them are based on the purposes of the institu- 
tion; others on the results that are expected to be ob- 
tained ; one formulates his definition from the point of 
view of administration, another from the point of view 
of organization and so on. All of these expressions are 
valuable since they reveal the many features which must 
be considered before an adequate definition can be con- 
structed. 

A general definition, negative in character, is given 
by Horn,^ superintendent of schools in Houston, Texas. 
''The junior high school is not an elementary school, 
neither is it a high school, neither is it a sort of mixture 
of the two in equal proportions. If it is in reality an 
institution worthy of its place in our educational economy, 
it is an institution which is neither an elementary school 
nor a high school, but a provision for the needs of those 
children for which neither of the older institutions made 
suitable provision. It partakes to some extent of the 
nature of each, but is essentially different in character. ' ' 

A rather detailed and careful attempt to describe 
another conception of the junior high school is made by 
Lewis.^ He considers the following elements essential to 
a real junior high school : 

1— The entrance requirements for the junior high 
school should provide for the admission of three different 
groups of children; (a) those of fourteen to twenty-one 
years of age and of uncertain or low educational attain- 
ments; and (b) many ambitious children who have left 
school but desire to return for more education. 

2_Seven bases of pupil classification should be 
used: (a) maturity; (b) ability to learn and to do; 

1. The Junior High School in Houston, Texas, Elementary School 
Journal, October, 1915, p. 92. rr- 7 c. j 7 TT«i 

2. Lewis, E. E., Standards of Measuring Junior High Schools, Uni- 
versity of Iowa, Extension Bulletin, No. 25 (1916). 



36 ' The Junior High School 

(c) probal)le future scliooliiig; (d) natural capacity and 
interest; (e) command of the English language; (f) 
marked physical and mental abnormalities; and (g) sex. 

3 — It should preferably include grades 7-9. 

4 — Promotion should be semi-annual and by subject. 

5 — Every junior high school should maintain at 
least two courses — a general pre-vocational course, 
largely free from the so-called high school subjects, and 
open to children who will probably not enter the high 
school ; and a literary or high school preparatory course 
for those intending to enter the senior high school. 

6 — Instruction should be departmentalized. 

7 — All teachers should be graduates of a four-year 
high school, or its equivalent. In addition they should 
be graduates of a standard normal school, with at least 
one year of practice teaching experience ; or they should 
have at least two years of college work with preparation 
in the branches to be taught, and with practice teaching 
experience. Furthermore, all teachers should be re- 
quired to have had two years of distinctively successful 
teaching experience, preferably in the grades, and should 
show some evidence of professional interest, training 
and study before being employed to teach in the junior 
high schools. 

8 — A systematic scheme for educational, vocational 
and personal guidance should be provided. 

9 — Some method of supervised-study should be pro- 
vided. 

The definition of Johnston is worthy of consideration 
because he was an authority on reorganization."^ He says 
the junior high school ''is a name we have come to asso- 
ciate with new ideas of promotion, new methods of pre- 
venting elimination, new devices for moving selected 
groups through subject-matter at different rates, higher 

3. Johnston. Chas. 11., The Junior Iliph School, Educational Admin- 
istration and Supervision, Vol. II, No. 7, Sept. 1916, p. 424. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 37 

compulsory school age, new and thorough analysis 
(social, economic, psychological) of pupil populations, 
enrichecl courses, varied ,and partially differentiated 
curriculum offerings, scientifically directed study prac- 
tice, new schemes for all sorts of educational guidance 
(educational in narrow sense, and also moral, tempera- 
mental and vocational), new psychological characteriza- 
tions of types in approaching the paramount school prob- 
lem of individual differences, new school year, new 
school day, new kind of class exercise, new kinds ot 
laboratory and library equipment and utilization, and 
new kinds of intimate community service." 

Of the definitions made by individuals, perhaps no 
one has received more wide-spread attention than that of 
Brio-gs.^ According to him the junior high school is ''an 
organization of grades 7 and 8, or 7 to 9, to provide by 
various means for individual differences, especially by 
an earlier introduction of pre-vocational work and ot 
subjects usually taught in the high school." ^ Briggs 
seems to think the basic purpose of this institution is to 
provide for individual differences and that its other pur- 
poses are inherent in this one. The purposes of the 
junior high school are, it is true, so closely interrelated 
that it would be difficult to realize one of them without, 
in some degree, realizing all. Likewise this institution, 
if it is to be unified, must, it would seem, be based on 
one fundamental idea and developed in accordance with 
this idea. Briggs seems to have set forth a definition 
that would make possible such an institution. 

A good example of a definition, the formation of 
which was concurred in by a number of individuals, is the 
one adopted by the North Central Association m 1918 
It includes a statement of aims. "The junior high school 
shall normally include the seventh, eighth and ninth 
years of public school work. The junior high school 

4. Hcport of U. S. Commiiisioncr of FAlucatwn, 1914. Vol. I, p. 137. 



38 The Junior High School 

organization and administration shall realize the follow- 
ing aims and purposes : 

1 — To continue through its instructional program 
the aims of public education in a democracy ; 

2 — To reduce to a minimum the elimination of pupils 
by offering types of work best suited to their interests, 
needs and capacities ; 

3 — To give the pupil an opportunity under system- 
atical educational guidance to discover his dominant in- 
terests, capacities and limitations with reference to his 
future vocational activities, or the continuance of his 
education in higher schools. 

4 — To economize time through such organization and 
administration of subjects and courses, both for those 
who will continue their education in higher schools and 
for those who wall enter immediately into life's activities. 

Bennett,-^ too, has formulated a definition which is 
supposed to include all the features that are commonly 
included in the term, junior high school ; 

1 — It is a separate educational institution with a 
distinct organization and corps of officers and teachers; 

2 — It embraces the seventh, eighth and ninth grades 
and sometimes the tenth; 

3 — It has a curriculum in the seventh and eighth 
grades enriched by the presence of several high school 
subjects and by the broadening, culturizing or vocation- 
alizing of the so-called common branches ; 

4 — It promotes by subjects, even in the seventh and 
eighth grades; 

5 — It permits and encourages a differentiation of 
courses for the different pupils. 

There are two other methods of defining the junior 
high school ; the first is to gather all published definitions, 



5. Bennett, G. Vernon, The Junior High School, p. 1. Warwick and 
York, Baltimore, IHU). 



Its Feasibilitu in the Catholic Educational System 39 

take the items common to them and include these in the 
definition ; the second is to collate all the elements found 
in individual definitions and submit them to a number of 
people who have made a special study of this institution, 
with a request for an opinion on each. An attempt was 
made by Brigg's to formulate a definition of the junior 
high school in both of these ways. 

The first attempt^ consisted in gathering together 
forty-four items listed under these heads: organization 
purposes, individual differences, methods of teaching, 
subject-matter and guidance. A list of these items was 
sent to four classes of educators, professors of education, 
State departments of education, city superintendents and 
principals of junior high schools, wdth a request that 
each item be marked essential, highly desirable tho not 
essential or undesirable. Eeplies were received from 
sixteen professors, eight representatives of State de- 
partments of education, nineteen city superintendents and 
eighteen principals of junior high schools — sixty-one 
judges representing twenty-five States. This effort to 
formulate a definition of the junior high school from the 
composite opinions of a reasonably large number of 
competent opinions is probably the best attempt that has 
been made. The answers of the judges in this case seem 
to emphasize the truth that the junior high school is still 
in the developmental stage, as well as the fact that no one 
form of this organization is adaptable to the peculiar 
local conditions of every place. 

The results of this questionnaire are presented in a 
compact tabular form indicating the percentage of the 
total number of judges approving each item as essential, 
or desirable, and also the percentage of each class of 
judges Avho consider each item essential, desirable or 
undesirable. The following table is intended to show the 
items which' are considered essential by a majority of 



G. Brigos, Thos. H.. What is a Junior High School, Ed. Adrn. mid 

Supcrv. A^ol'. V, No. 7, Sept. 1919, pp. 28.-5-301. 



40 



The Junior High School 



all the judges, and also the percentage of each group of 
judges that believed these items essential characteristics 
of the junior high school : 



Column 1 — All judges. 


Column 4 — C i t y Superinten- 


Column 2 — Professors of Edu- 


dents. 


cation. 


Column 5 — Principals of Jun- 


Column 3 — State Departments 


ior High Schools. 


of Education, 





Columns 



Items 1 

Distinct educational unit. . . 54.1 
Separated in organization 

from the elementary grades 62.3 
Suitable for all pupils ap- 
proximately 12-16 years of 

age 72.1 

To retain pupils longer in 

school 72.1 

To provide curricula of a vo- 
cational character for pu- 
pils who will assuredly 

leave school early 59.0 

To provide a more gradual 

transition to higher schools 78.7 
To accelerate in varying de- 
grees all pupils who will 

continue in school 67,2 

To explore pupils' interests. 80.3 
To explore pupils' aptitudes. 83.6 
To explore pupils' capacities 80.3 
To explore for the pupil by 
means of material in itself 
worth while possibilities in 
the major academic sub- 
jects 59.0 



2 



o. 



9. 
10. 
11. 



50.0 62.5 52.6 55.6 

62.5 50.0 52.6 77.8 

93.7 50.0 68.4 66.7 

62.5 75.0 73.7 77.8 

25.0 50.0 73.7 77.8 

75.0 75.0 84.2 77.8 



68.8 75.0 73.7 55.6 
87.5 75.0 78.9 77.8 
87.5 87.5 78.9 83.3 

81.9 75.0 78.9 83.3 



62.5 50.0 52.6 66.7 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 41 



Columns 



Items 1 



12. Providing for individual dif- 

ferences : 

a) by differentiated curricula 77.0 75.0 62.5 73.7 88.9 

b) gradually increasing in 

^ differentiation 73.8 81.3 50.0 73.7 77.8 

13. Methods: 

a) between those of the ele- 

mentary school and those 

of the high school 72.1 68.8 87.5 84.2 55.6 

b) including many projects.. 59.0 56.3 87.5 52.6 55.6 
c ) encouraging initiation on 

the part of pupils 75.4 68.8 75.0 84.2 72.2 

14. Using promotion by subject. 73.8 81.9 75.0 68.4 72.2 

15. Curricula, enriched beyond 

those commonly found for 

pupils 12-16 years of age.. 85.3 87.5 87.5 73.7 94.4 

16. Curricula, flexible to suit in- 

dividual needs 83.6 81.9 100.0 73.7 88.9 

17. Reorganizing courses of studj'" 

so as to eliminate material 
justified for the most part: 
a) only by traditional prac- 
tice 80.0 75.0 87.5 73.7 88.9 

18. b) only by the logical organ- 

ization of subject-matter 70.5 68.8 87.5 78.9 55.6 

19. Immediate needs 50.8 43.8 75.0 42.0 61.7 

20. Providing systematic guid- 

ance for each individual 

pupil:— educational 65.6 75.0 50.0 63.2 66.7 

21. personal 68.9 75.0 62.5 68.4 66.7 

22. vocational 57.4 62.5 37.5 57.9 61.7 

23. Emphasizing extra - curricu- 

lum activities of various 

kinds 50.8 50.0 62.5 52.6 44.4 



42 The Junior High School 



Columns 



Items 



24. Granting an increased 
amount of opportunity to 
pupils for participation in 
the social administration of 
the school 52.4 37.5 75.0 57.9 50.0 



Briggs' second attempt was to formulate a definition 
by examining a number of individual definitions and tak- 
ing the features common to them as the basis of a defini- 
tion. This collation of a number of definitions is valuable 
in that it shows the many items that have to be considered 
as possible elements of the junior high school, and at 
the same time, what items have been used most frequently 
by individuals in attempting to define this new institu- 
tion. The same arrangement of items used in his at- 
tempt to answer the question — "What is a junior higli 
school" — is adopted in this second study. Sixty-eight 
authors of definitions were consulted and the results pre- 
sented in a table indicating the items found in tlie defini- 
tion of each author. In a second table the writer sets 
down the percentage of the sixty-eight authors who ap- 
prove each item and for the sake of comparison, he also 
presents the percentage of the judges who approved these 
items in September, 1919. This study shows that only 
two items are mentioned by more than fifty per cent of 
the authors consulted as elements of the junior high 
school ; provision for individual differences is mentioned 
by 64.7 per cent and departmental teaching by 51.5 per 
cent. 

It must be remembered that many of these definitions 
were formulated with a specific purpose in view, and cn^i 
hardly be taken as expressing the complete opinion on 
the junior high school of their authors. This fact must 
be taken into consideration too when the results of this 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational Systen} 43 

attempt to form a composite definition are compared witli 
Briggs' earlier attempt to realize the same purpose. In 
the first instance, the men who acted as judges were pre- 
sented with a long list of items and requested to pass 
judgment on each item as a feature of the junior high 
school. In this second effort to arrive at common view 
regarding the meaning of the term junior high school, 
each item that had been presented to the judges in the 
former case is sought in definitions set down in limited 
space and including only such elements as were consid- 
ered essential from one or two points of view. Hence 
it is scarcely true to say that these definitions are, in all 
cases, full expressions of their author's answer to the 
question — ''What is a junior high school!" For the 
sake of permitting a comparison between the results 
obtained in the two above-mentioned Avays, the following 
table made by Briggs^ is reproduced here. 

Table II 

Showing the percentage of 68 individuals who include 
each item in a definition of the junior high school : 

Provisions for individual differences 64.7 

Departmental teachings 51.5 

Retention in school 48.5 

Differentiated curricula 41.2 

Combination of grades 7-8-9 41.2 

Enriched curricula 39.7 

Promotion by subject 39.7 

Gradual transition 36.8 

Economy of time 29.4 

Homogeneous grouping 23.4 

Exploration of interests, aptitudes and capacities 22.1 

Supervised study 20.6 

Vitalized instruction 20.6 



7. A Composite Definition of the Junior High School, Bi'iggs, Thos. H., 
Ed. Adm. and Superv. Vol. VI, No. 4, April, 1920, pp. 181-186. 



44 The Junior High School 

Provision for adolescence 20.6 

Segregation (Distinct Educational unit) 19.2 

Flexible curricula 16.2 

Provisions for social interests 16.2 

Prevocational training 14.7 

Reorganization of subject-matter 10.3 

Meets community needs 10.3 

Elimination of undesirable subject-matter 7.4 

Educational guidance 7.4 

Vocational guidance 7.4 

Vocational or trade training 7.4 

Encourage initiative 5.9 

These two studies are the chief, if not the only ones, 
that have been made to determine the common accepta- 
tion of the term junior high school. The evidence pre- 
sented in tables I and II seems to vindicate the rather 
general view that the junior high school cannot be defined 
dogmatically at the present time. In fact it is not an 
easy task to determine theoretically just what features 
should be included in a description of a typical junior 
high school. 

The second type of definition, designated as the 
practical, is formulated by examining those schools in 
various cities and towais throughout the country and 
gathering together the features that are more or less 
common to all. In order to form some notion as to wdiat 
features of the theoretical plan have been accepted in 
practice a mimber of junior high schools have been exam- 
ined relative to methods of housing, manner of grouping- 
grades, curriculums adopted, and so forth. 

Three methods of housing junior high school pupils 
are generally in use ; the first is to gather them all into 
separate buildings; the second is to house them in the 
same luiilding with the senior high school students; and 
the third is to provide for them in the elementary school 
building. Briggs, Douglass and Davis have gathered 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 45 

statistics on the different methods in use in different 
places. In these three reports six hundred and eighty- 
five junior high schools were examined. Davis' figures 
are based on questionnaire returns from two hundred 
and seventy-two such schools found in seventeen differ- 
ent states; Douglass' study of 178 schools is the source 
of his computation ; and Briggs received information 
from 317 schools. It is not intended to leave the impres- 
sion that each of these studies w^as concerned with 
different schools, for there is little doubt that the same 
school was examined by the three in many instances. 

Douglass found that of 178 schools 45 are housed 
alone, 59 with the senior high school, 63 with the elemen- 
tary school, two in annexes to the senior high school, and 
in nine systems, some of the junior high schools are 
housed alone and the remainder with other grades.""^ 
The report received by Briggs from 317 schools shows 
"88 are in buildings of their own, some of these being 
old high school buildings, and others elementary school 
buildings more or less remodeled for the purpose. Ninety 
junior high schools are housed with the elementary 
grades, while 83 are in the same building as the senior 
high school. There are some places where the junior 
high school pupils are housed with both the elementary 
and the high school. In a few^ cases, all the children are 
housed in the same building and in three instances, junior 
high schools are conducted in the same building that is 
used for the training of teachers." In the North Central 
Association territory, Davis found that there are 293 
junior high schools, but of this number only 168 are 
Iniown by this name ; 46 are called departmental schools ; 
12, six-year high schools; 67, other names, and 45 are 
still folloAving the eight-four plan. Of the 293 that are 
listed as junior high schools, even though some are known 
by other names, 138 are housed in the senior high school 



8. Douglass, A. A., The Junior High School, Fifteenth Yearbook of the 
National Society for the Study of Education, Part III, p. 92. 



44 The Junior High School 

Provision for adolescence 20.6 

Segregation (Distinct Educational unit) 19.2 

Flexible curricula 16.2 

Provisions for social interests 16.2 

Prevocational training 14.7 

Reorganization of subject-matter 10.3 

Meets community needs 10.3 

Elimination of undesirable subject-matter 7.4 

Educational guidance 7.4 

Vocational guidance 7.4 

Vocational or trade training 7.4 

Encourage initiative 5.9 

These two studies are the chief, if not the only ones, 
that have been made to determine the common accepta- 
tion of the term junior high school. The evidence pre- 
sented in tables I and II seems to vindicate the rather 
general view that the junior high school cannot be defined 
dogmatically at the present time. In fact it is not an 
easy task to determine theoretically just what features 
should be included in a description of a typical junior 
high school. 

The second type of definition, designated as the 
practical, is formulated by examining those schools in 
various cities and towns throughout the country and 
gathering together the features that are more or less 
common to all. In order to form some notion as to what 
features of the theoretical plan have been accepted in 
practice a number of junior high schools have been exam- 
ined relative to methods of housing, manner of grouping 
grades, curriculums adopted, and so forth. 

Three methods of housing junior high school pupils 
are generally in use; the first is to gather them all into 
separate buildings; the second is to house them in the 
same building with the senior high school students; and 
the third is to provide for them in the elementary scliool 
building. Briggs, Douglass and Davis have gathered 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 45 

statistics on the different methods in use in different 
places. In these three reports six hundred and eighty- 
five junior high schools were examined. Davis' figures 
are based on questionnaire returns from two hundred 
and seventy-two such schools found in seventeen differ- 
ent states; Douglass' study of 178 schools is the source 
of his computation; and Briggs received information 
from 317 schools. It is not intended to leave the impres- 
sion that each of these studies was concerned with 
different schools, for there is little doubt that the same 
school was examined by the three in many instances. 

Douglass found that of 178 schools 45 are housed 
alone, 59 with the senior high school, 63 with the elemen- 
tary school, two in annexes to the senior high school, and 
in nine systems, some of the junior high schools are 
housed alone and the remainder with other grades."'^ 
The report received by Briggs from 317 schools show^s 
**88 are in buildings of their own, some of these being 
old high school buildings, and others elementary school 
buildings more or less remodeled for the purpose. Ninety 
junior high schools are housed Avitli the elementary 
grades, while 83 are in the same building as the senior 
high school. There are some places where the junior 
high school pupils are housed with both the elementary 
and the high school. In a few cases, all the children are 
housed in the same building and in three instances, junior 
high schools are conducted in the same building that is 
used for the training of teachers." In the North Central 
Association territory, Davis found that there are 293 
junior high schools, but of this number only 168 are 
tnoAvn by this name ; 46 are called departmental schools ; 
12, six-year high schools; 67, other names, and 45 are 
still following the eight-four plan. Of the 293 that are 
listed as junior high schools, even though some are known 
by other names, 138 are housed in the senior high school 



8. Douglass, A. A., The Junior High School, Fifteenth Yearbook of the 
National Society for the Study of Education, Part III, p. 92. 



46 The Junior High School 

building ; 85 in the same building as the elementary school 
pupils; 49 in buildings of their own, and 105 are "segre- 
gated in buildings. "^'^ No mention is made of the manner 
in which the other six systems provide housing for their 
pupils. 

In the following table the variations in methods of 
housing junior high school pupils, as reported by these 
three writers can be clearly seen : 

Table III 

Housed in Briggs Douglass Davis 

Separate buildings 88 45 49 

Senior high building: 83 59 138 

Elementary school building 90 63 85 

Segregated part of building . . 105 

Elem. and senior high building.... 53 

Building for training teachers 3 

Annexes to senior high building 2 



317 169 377 

The second feature of the junior high schools to he 
considered is the manner of grouping the grades. The 
most common plan of grouping grades in the United 
States has l)een to give eight years to elementary and 
four years to high school work. In some parts of the 
country until quite recently it Avas the practice to devote 
nine years to elementary education and four to secon- 
dary. In the South only seven years were given to 
elementary education, followed liy a four-year high 
school course. The actual conditions as they existed in 
1911 respecting the number of years embraced in each 
division are reported by Bunker from a canvass of 669 
cities having a population of 8,000 or more, "489 have a 
course of eiu'ht vears element arv and four vears secon- 



9. Davis, C. O., The Junior nigh School in the North Central Associa- 
tion Territory, School Review, 26; May, 1918, p. ?>26. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 47 

dary; 48 have a course of seven years elementary and 
four years secondary ; 86 have one of nine years elemen- 
tary (not including the kindergarten) and four years 
secondary; seven have the usual eight years elementary 
but offer only three years in the high school; four have 
a course of eight years elementary and five years secon- 
dary; three have organized on the basi^ of seven years 
elementary and five years secondary; eight are repre- 
sented in the plan calling for six years elementary and 
four years secondary, seven years elementary and three 
years secondary, nine years elementary and three years 
secondary, and twenty-four have made or are making 
significant departures from the foregoing types. "^^ 

The departure from types referred to by Bunker is 
the result of the reorganization movement. The tendency 
seems to be to shorten the time allotted to elementary 
education in the past and to devote the time thus gained 
to secondary education. It is through the junior high 
school that this intention is expected to be realized, but 
just what form of grade grouping will be most service- 
able and at the same time feasible is still a question of 
dispute. Statistical evidence now available indicates that 
practice is by no means uniform. 

There are eleven different groupings of grades in 
existing school systems claiming to have junior high 
schools. These plans of grouping grades are the fol- 
lowing : 5-7 ; 5-8 ; 6-7 ; 6-8 ; 7-8 ; 7-9 ; 6-6 ; 8 ; 9 ; 8-9 ; 7-10. By 
far the most common plans are the 7-8 and the 7-9. It 
may be well to note here that theory tends to favor the 
two plans most frequently found in practice. 

The table below shows the findings of three different 
investigations relative to the grouping of grades in junior 
hio"h schools : 



10. Bunker, F. F., op. cit., p. 75. 



48 The Junior High School 



Table IV 



Number of Systems 
Briggs^ Douglass^ Davis^ 



Grades Included 




5-7 


00 


5-8 


00 


6-7 


00 


6-8 


3 


6-6 


00 


7-8 


71 


7-9 


174 


7-10 


00 


8 


6 


8-9 


8 


9 


2 


7 


2 


8-10 


1 


Others 


00 



1 


00 


1 


00 


1 


00 


11 


22 


10 


(7-12) 18 


77 


133 


64 


89 


7 


00 


3 


11 


8 


8 


1 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


11 



267 184 



1. Briggs, T. H., The Junior High School, p. 94, Houghton Mifflin, 
New York. 

2. Douglass, The Junior High School Fifteenth Year-Book N. S. for 
Study of Ed. Part III, p. 88, 1919. 

3. Davis, C. O., Junior High School in the North Cent. Assn. Territory. 
School Review 26; 326, May, 1918. 

Brig-gs^^ remarks "The number of grades in the 
junior high school is still widely variable, tho the ten- 
dency is strongly toward a combination of the seventh, 
eighth and ninth." According to Douglass existing 
building facilities and other local conditions are impor- 
tant factors ill determining the present grouping of 
grades in the junior high school. He notes further th;r 
of twenty-two other places which have expressed an 
intention of reorganizing their systems, tho 7-9 plan of 
grouping grades will be adopted by sixteen and that in 

]1. Hid. p. 93. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 49 

many instances the existing 7-8 arrangement must be 
looked upon as a stage of development rather than a fixed 
and final grouping of grades. This author seems further- 
more to believe the grouping of grades must depend to 
a large extent upon the environment in which the junior 
high school is located, and in this matter Douglass' view 
is shared by quite a few others. Davis' study is perhaps 
the most exact of the three for the information contained 
in it was taken from obligatory reports of all the accred- 
ited schools in the North Central Association. It is true 
this study was limited to a certain section of the country, 
but this section — including seventeen states — seems to be 
sufficiently large to justify the inference that conditions 
found there are typical of the junior high schools 
throughout the country. 

The reorganization of the curriculum is one of the 
most important features of the junior high school and 
must necessarily form an essential part of a definition of 
this institution. In practice, however, comparatively 
little has been done in this respect. Johnston, who had 
visited a large number of junior high schools, found ''in 
all cases the principal, proudly conscious of the distinc- 
tiveness of his new institution, his teachers, pupils, 
building, etc., but Avhen inquiries were made concerning 
the internal adjustments the answer generally was: 'we 
haven't got that far yet,' 'we plan to take that up next 
year,' 'we have no reorganization of this sort in pros- 
pect.' "^^ Briggs writes: "One cannot examine the cur- 
ricula and courses of study without concluding that so 
far they have made only a beginning at accomplishing 
desired ends."^-^ 

In the midst of all this variety, however, it seems 
possible to reduce the different curriculums offered to 
three main classes, namely, the one curriculum type, the 
many curriculum type and the type in which certain 

12. Johnson, C. H. Ed. Adin. and Super. Vol. I, p. 411. 

13. Op. cit.. p. loo. 



50 The Junior High School 

subjects are required of all pupils and certain other 
subjects are elective. But no classification will be en- 
tirely satisfactory on account of unavoidable overlap- 
ping. A large number of variations are found in schools 
that would be classified under any one of the three large 
divisions; for instance, the junior high school at Santa 
Fe, New Mexico, has one curriculum with rather a large 
number of subjects, but pupils in the seventh and eighth 
grades have no choice, while in the ninth grade, English 
and algel)ra are the only required subjects and eight 
other subjects are offered as electives. Another school 
lielonging to the one curriculum class but differing con- 
siderably from the Santa Fe school, is in Springfield, 
Illinois. In this school there are only seven required 
subjects in the seventh and eighth grades and a choice 
can be made by the pupil between German and indus- 
trial work. In the ninth grade, besides English and 
algebra, music and drawing are required and six subjects 
are electives. ^-^ 

Many differences are also found in the many type 
curriculum. The range is from two curriculums to five 
and in each the offerings of subjects admit, and in prac- 
tice actually show considerable variation. The number 
of curriculums offered must necessarily depend upon the 
number of pupils in one school and their classification. 
In large systems it may be advantageous and feasible to 
provide a wide range of sul)jects distributed through 
the three, four, or five curriculums. Lewis thinks, ''a 
school not maintaining at least two courses should not 
be entitled to the name junior high school. "^^ 

The junior high school in Los Angeles has this type 
of curriculum: Three courses are offered, a so-called 
general course, a commercial course and a vocational 
course. In the first year of the general course, nine 



14. Douglass, A. A., Fifteenth Yearhoolc, National Boeicty for the 
Study of Education, Fort III, 1919, pp. 120-145. 

15. Lewis, Ervin E., Standards for Measuring Junior High Schools, 
TTiuv. of Iowa Extention Bulletin. Bulletin No. 25, Nov. 15, ioiH. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 51 

subjects are required and one elective is to be chosen 
from six other subjects. In the second year, seven sub- 
jects must be taken and two elections are permitted from 
a choice of eight. In the third year only three subjects 
are required and two electives from an offering of eleven, 
which are the same as the electives for the first and 
second year with the addition of three other subjects, 
and then one other elective must be chosen from four 
subjects in a special group. The commercial and voca- 
tional courses are made up of the same subjects as the 
general course, with a different arrangement of required 
and elective subjects. 

Cincinnati junior high school offers two courses — 
the industrial arts course and the commercial course. 
No election of subjects is permitted in any year of either 
course. Detroit off'ers an English course, a commercial 
course and an industrial course. Dulutli, Minnesota, 
has one curriculum for the seventh and eighth grades 
but in the ninth there are four different courses. Many 
other combinations are in use in various places, but the 
arrangement, as noted in several places, seems to be 
sufficient to illustrate the great variety of practice in 
the number and kind of curriculums offered in different 
junior high schools.^^ 

To illustrate the third type — one curriculum with 
constants and variables — the following table, entitled 
''Sequential and Time Allotment," is reproduced from 
a bulletin issued ])y the Board of Education of Cleve- 
land, Ohio, under the title — "Program of Studies and 
Curriculum Organization for 1920-1921." In reference 
to this curriculum the following points are noted : 

1) The curriculum is the single type constant and 
with variables. It is difficult, the Board thinks, to justify 
differentiated curriculums in the junior high school. 

2) The work is uniform in the 7B grade. The ex- 
ploration of interests and ability during this semester is 

IG. Bennett, op. cit., pp. 195-207, and Dongla??!, op. cit., pp. 121-1 'U. 



52 



llic Junior High School 



provided tliroiigli the organization and arrangement of 
snbject-niatter, and the variety of courses of study, wliile 
at the same time the uniformity in requirements guar- 
antees to the pupil certain common experiences, thus 
meeting one of the outstanding purposes of the school. 

3) Specific and adequate attention is given through 
a system of advice and guidance to the choice of elective 
studies. 

4) Pupils may, by choosing their electives with 
care, prepare for specific curriculums to be entered in 
the senior high school or, in like manner, for their life's 
work, if they must leave school at the end of the ninth 
grade. 

5) The single curriculum extending through the 
ninth grade permits pupils to postpone the period of 
intensive specialization until they reach the tenth or the 
first vear of the senior high school.^^ 



Table IV 



7B Periods 

Bequired Per Week 

English 10 

Mathematics 5 

Geography 5 

History and Social ProMems. 4 

Physical Education 2 

Hygiene 1 

Music 1 

Art 2 

Shoi3 and Drawing 4 

Home Economies 4 



SB 
Eeqiiircd 

Phiglish 

Mathematics 

Social Science . . . . 
Physical Education 

Hygiene 

Music 

Art 

Vocations 

Shop and Diawing 



Periods 
Per Weeh 

5 

5 

4 



Periods 
Per Weelc 
5 



7A 
Bequired 

English 

Mathematics 5 

Geography 5 

History and Social Pbs 4 

Physical Education 2 

Hygiene 1 

Music 1 

Art 2 

Shop and Drawing 4 

Home Economics 4 

Electives (5 or 6 Periods) 

English 5 

Latin 5 

French 5 

Spanish 5 

Commercial 5 

Shop and Drawing 6 

Home Economics 6 

S.l 

Bequirrel 

Eiio-]ish 5 



17. Program of Studies and Curriculum Organization, Cleveland 
Juvior Iliqh Schools, Bulletin, Cleveland Board of Education, April, 1921, 
p. 3. 



Its Feasihilitij in the CathoJic Educational System 53 



Home Economics 4 

Electives (5 or G periods) 

English •'5 

Latin 5 

French 5 

Spanish 5 

Commercial i5 

Shop and Drawing 6 

Home Economics (3 

9B Periodic 

Bequired Per Weelc 

English 5 

Mathematics 5 

Music 2 

Physical Education 2 

Electives 

Social Science 5 

Latin 5 

French 5 

Spanish 5 

General Science 5 

Applied Art 6-10 

Shop and Drawing 10-lG 

Home EconomiL's 10 

Penmanship 10 



Mathematics 

Social Science 

Physical Education 

Hygiene 

Music 

Art 

Vocations 

Shop and Drawing 

Home Economics 

Electives (5 or 6 Periods) 

English 

Latin 

French 

Spanish 

Commercial 

Shop and Drawing 

Home Economics 



9A 
Bequired 

English 5 

Mathematics 5 

Music 2 

Physical Education 2 

Electives 

Social Science 5 

Latin 5 

French 5 

Spanish 5 

General Science 5 

Applied Art 6-10 

Shop and Drawing 10-16 

Home Economics 10 

Bookkeeping 10 

These reports indicate quite clearly that the junior 
high school curriculum is still in the experimental stage. 
No one plan is in sufficiently common use to he termed 
typical. The only indication from practice is a general 
recognition of the necessity for reorganizing the cur- 
riculum, hut just what form this reorganization will 
eventually take is yet to be determined. 

It is generally conceded that one of the most impor- 
tant, if not the most important, questions relating to the 
junior high school is the provision of properly qualified 
teachers. The difficulty of ohtainhig teachers who are 
capable of meeting the conditions demanded by this new 
institution is one of the objections offered by those who 
oppose the adoption of the junior high school idea. 



54 The Junior High School 

The accurately measurable qualifications of teachers 
are the number of years devoted to academic studies, 
professional trainin<>: and actual teaching. The opinions 
of authorities on this question seem to agree that the 
ideal teacher for the junior high school is one who has 
completed a college course, given at least a year to pro- 
fessional stud}^ and has had successful teaching experi- 
ence in the grades. Everyone realizes the impossibility 
of supplying all junior high schools at the present time 
with teachers having these qualifications, so it is not 
surprising to find considerable difference in qualifica- 
tions of the teachers now engaged in junior high school 
work. 

A number of letters were received by Douglass from 
superintendents in various parts of the country regard- 
ing the qualifications of the teachers employed in their 
junior high schools. In Fresno, California, "the teachers 
have been selected from the elementary schools on the 
basis of their special fitness for departmental teaching." 
No other qualifications than those demanded in the ele- 
mentary schools are required for teaching in the junior 
school. In Quincy, Illinois, "the qualifications for junior 
high school teachers are the same as for the senior high 
school teachers." It is not stated that all teachers ac- 
tually employed in the junior high are thus qualified. In 
Clinton, Iowa, a distinction is made between the qualifica- 
tions of teachers for the ninth grade and the seventh and 
eighth grades ; the ninth grade teachers must be college 
graduates and must have had some professional train- 
ing. In Chanute, Kansas, college graduates and high 
school graduates who have had normal training and 
considerable experience are the teachers in the junior 
high school. The superintendent states "the standard 
qualifications of the junior high school teachers with us 
are determined by the price we can pay." The replies of 
most of the superintendents seem to indicate their ideal 
rather than the qualifications actually possessed by those 



Its Feasibilitij in the Catholic Educational System 55 

who are teaching in the junior high. "That they are not 
fully met by the teachers actually employed is easily 
explicable. Teachers in junior high schools probably 
conform to ideal standards quite as closely as do teachers 
in any other types of institutions."^^ 

There are such other features of the junior high 
school as entrance requirements, methods of teaching, 
which involve the consideration of the many teacher 
plan as opposed to the single teacher plan, supervised 
study, length of recitation periods, length of school day 
and year, arrangement of departments and equipment, 
that wdll, when more definitely worked out, help to deter- 
mine what are the essential features of the junior higli 
school. Some form of departmental teaching is probably 
found in more junior high schools than any other element 
that is considered a mark of this institution. It is foun;! 
also that in practically one-half of the 250 junior high 
schools reporting, the methods of teaching are more 
closely related to those used in the elementary school 
than to those used in the high school, while in the other 
half the very opposite is reported.^'^ Investigation has 
shown that supervised study has been introduced in many 
junior high schools, but wide variation in arrangement 
of details still exists. This is especially true in regard 
to the allotment of time. The most common single prac- 
tice is the provision of a fifty to sixty minute period 
about equally divided in the academic sul)jects between 
recitation and directed study. "^'^ 

In answer to his question — "Upon what do you make 
entrance to the junior high school depend!" Douglass^'^ 
found sixty-eight require promotion, completion or satis- 
factory completion of the preceding grade; four accept 



18. Brings, The Junior Jligh School, p. 218. 

19. Ibid. p. 203. 

20. Koos, L. v., The Junior High School, p. 154, Harcourt, Brace & 
Co., New York, 1921. 

21. Fifteenth YearbooJc, N. S, for the Study of Education, Part~lTl, 
p. 48. 



dG The Junior High Scliool 

the recommendation of the teacher or principal; four 
consider the pupil's ability to do the work of the junior 
high school; one makes no special requirements and 
eighteen others mention size, age, maturity and unsuit- 
ableness of the elementary school. The total number of 
schools in which all these variations are found is ninety- 
four. 

Promotion by subject, special equipment and other 
features mentioned seem to be necessary to the junior 
high school from a theoretical point of view, but, as in 
the case of entrance requirements and methods of study, 
a large amount of experimentation will have to be done 
before the details of these factors can be determined. 

These data clearly show that neither in theory nor 
in practice has any one generally accepted idea of what 
constitutes a junior high school been found. There are 
however a sufficient number of common characteristics 
in all these definitions to indicate that this concept is 
gradually taking on a definite shape. 



Its FeasibUiti/ in the Catholic Educational System 57 

CHAPTER IV 

Results 

Just as the existing school sj^stem is condemned on 
the grounds that it has failed to produce the results 
rightly expected of the school, so too must the new insti- 
tution be ultimately measured by its results. Although 
measurement of results in education is obviously a com- 
plicated problem and must remain so imtil universally 
accepted standards of measurement are evolved, some 
few things can be rather definitely measured with the 
means at hands. LThus it is possible to determine the 
extent of elimination in a school system, the amount of 
retardation, and the regularity of attendancej And from 
the conclusions thus reached the relative success or failure 
of the particular type of school can, to some extent, be 
measured. The advocates of the junior high school plan 
of organization have made numerous attempts to prove 
its value from results obtained. Some of the factual 
evidence offered in support of its claims seem to be of 
sufficient value to deserve presentation and consideration. 

In regard to the "holding power" of the junior high 
school, a number of statistics have been gathered and 
arranged by investigators to show that children are re- 
tained in school for a longer period of time under the new 
type of organization than under the traditional type. 
It is a truism to assert that there is an undue amount of 
elimination in the schools of this country, moreover, 
statistics clearly show that elimination is greatest be- 
tween the ninth and tenth, the eighth and ninth, and the 
seventh and eighth grades.^ These are the grades with 
Avhich the junior high school is particularly concerned. 
For this reason attention in this treatise may well be 

1. Ino-lis. A., Principles of Secondary Education, p. 128. Houshton 
MifTlir. Co., N. Y. 



58 The Junior High School 

focused upon them, tlio the need of reform or improve- 
ment in grades above and below is recognized. 

The U. S. Commissioner of Education in his report 
for 1914 quotes the statements of a number of junior 
high school principals as evidence of the holding power 
of the institution. The following appear to be typical, 
"Principal W. B. Clark of the McKinley Intermediate 
School, Berkeley, furnishes data showing that since the 
establishment of the school 94.73 per cent of the pupils 
completing the eighth grade have entered the ninth, 
and 95,29 per cent of these completing the ninth 
grade have entered the tenth. Principal Preston of 
tlie Franklin Intermediate School, Berkeley, reports 
that of the last seven classes completing the eighth 
grade under the old organization 40.53 per cent en- 
tered the high school, and that of the first six classes 
completing the eighth grade of the intermediate school 
there entered the ninth grade of the same school 65.53 
per cent, not counting those who were transferred from 
other buildings. Principal Paul C. Stetson states that 
86 per cent of the pupils in the eighth grade in the Grand 
Ea])ids junior high school last year entered the senior 
high school, as compared with 76 per cerit of the eighth 
grades in the grammar schools of the city. In Evansville, 
Indiana, according the Principal Ernest P. Wiles, only 
56 per cent of the pupils completing the eighth grade in 
1912 entered the high school as against 84 per cent last 
year of the pupils in the junior higli school."^ 

The answers to the questionnaire used in the study 
for the report just quoted are summarized as follows: 
"of the number of principals of junior high schools re- 
porting, 107 declare that the organization does retain 
pupils in school better than the older plan, and two say 
that it does not. To the three who say frankly that they 

2. Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1914, Vol. 1, pp. 
14.3 and 144. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 59 

do not know what the effect is, should probably be added 
all those who fail to answer the question."^ 

In presenting- a number of statistical tables bearing 
on the reduction of elimination under the junior high 
school plan of organization Douglass says :^ A number 
of considerations, however, make any conclusion unsatis- 
factory. In the first place, most enrolment figures are 
lacking in many returns. Second, the increase in popula- 
tion, with many other factors contributing to increase 
enrolment, makes it difficult to arrive at a fair conclusion 
as to what extent the junior high school has been oper- 
ative in increasing attendance. Third, each community 
doubtless presents its own peculiar problems, and it 
is manifestly unfair to group together for this comparison 
schools recently reorganized and those that have been 
operating a longer time." 

Although the superintendents from whom Douglass 
secured the figures used in his tables were reticent in 
saying the junior high school has reduced elimination. 
He believes that the data furnished at least indicate these 
conclusions : 

1 — Increased enrolment in grades seven, eight and 
nine is due in part, at least, to the junior high school. The 
same is true of grades ten, eleven and twelve. 

2 — The percentage of students held in the junior 
high school grades is somewhat greater than under the 
old plan. This is also true of the senior high school. 

3 — The percentage of boys held in the last six grades 
is greater under the reorganized system. 

4 — Even yet the percentage of pupils eliminated at 
the end of the seventh and eighth grades is entirely too 
large. Here pupil mortality is probably greater than 
those interested in the junior high school are aware. 

3. Ihid. p. 142. 

4. Op. cit., p. 102. 



60 The Junior High School 

Mangun/ superintendent of schools of Macomb, 
Illinois, has endeavored to show in presenting the results 
of two years of experience with the 6-6 plan of organiza- 
tion the ''holding power" of the new system. He 
attempted to prove that the increased enrolment in the 
Macomb schools is not merely a part of the general 
movement to increase high school enrolment through the 
country, but the direct result of the reorganized system. 
For this comparison he takes the increased enrolment 
of the State of Illinois as typical of the whole country. 
Figures furnished by Mangun, in the form of a table, show^ 
that the percentage of pupils retained in the schools of 
Macomb is larger than the percentage for the entire 
State. From this comparison it is "unmistakably plain 
that the Macomb increases have been considerably in 
excess of the general increases throughout the country."^ 

Stetson made a study for the express purpose of 
determining the "holding power" of the junior high 
school. The data presented by this writer shows a 
marked increase in the percentage of pupils entering the 
ninth grade in the schools of Grand Eapids after the 
junior high school had been established. The average 
percentage of pupils retained in the ninth grade for the 
four years between 1907 and 1911, had been, according 
to figures of Stetson, 66.4 whereas, during the following 
four years under the new plan of organization the average 
perceiitage was 87.0, an increase of 20.6 per cent. Inter- 
preting the table in w^hich he presents his findings. Stet- 
son states: "This table shows conclusively that previous 
to the intermediate type of organization the percentage 
of students who remained in the ninth grade was steadily 
on the decline and that a smaller percentage was held 



5. Manguii, Vernon L., Some Junior Tlifih School Facts Drown from 
Two Years of the 6-G Plan at Macomh, III. Elementary School Journal 
18; 598-617, April, 1918. 

6. Ibid. p. 612. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 61 

over. It also shows that as soon as the junior high 
schools were organized the percentage in the ninth grade 
increased steadily. "~ 

Probably the best investigation of the junior high 
school from the point of view of retaining children in 
school is that conducted by Childs.-^ Childs states his 
conclusion in these words : " In general, it is not apparent 
that these junior high school data justify the claim, 
commonly made, that junior high schools retain a higher 
per cent of pupils than do schools in the non-junior type 
in the grammar and high school grades. The data do 
seem to justify the stated aims of some advocates of 
reorganization, viz., that the junior type school makes a 
superior appeal to boys as compared w^ith the traditional 
organization."^ 

The amount of evidence that has been amassed to 
demonstrate the holding power of the junior high school 
is immense. It consists chiefly in the presentation of 
comparative statistics and the opinions of superinten- 
dents or principals of junior high scbools in different 
places. In most instances the principals seem to consider 
the new institution superior to the old in its power to 
retain children in school. Some frankl}^ stated, they did 
not know; others, they had no records upon wdiich they 
could base a judgment ; while others simply did not answer 
the question at all.^^ It is worthy of note, however, that 
less than half (44,7) of the principals of junior high 
schools in the North Central Association territory believe 
this type of schools improves retention. ^^ 



7. Stetson, Paul C, Statistical Study of the Junior Tliph School from 
the Point of View of Enrolment. School Review, pp. 233-245, April, 1918. 

8. Childs, H. G., An Investigation of Certain Phases of the Heorgani- 
sation Movement in the Grammar Grades of Indiana Public Schools. 

9. Ibid. p. 179. 

10. Note: For figures and opinions see Briggs, op. cit., pp. 304-311 
and Douglass, op. cit., pp. 102-109. 

11. Davis, C. O., Junior Tligh Schools in the North Central Association 
Territory. School Review, May, 1918. 



62 The Junior High School 

It is certainly true that more children have remained 
in school for a longer period of late years than formerly, 
but when an explanation of this fact is sought it is not 
so certain that the junior high school alone must be 
credited for this improved condition. As noted above, 
Douglass attributes the improvement to a number of 
causes. And Koos^^ remarks: ''When we examine the 
factual evidence mustered in support of the junior high 
school aiming to show the large extent to which this 
function of retaining pupils is already being performed, 
we find much material, but very little that can endure the 
light of careful thought." 

Closely related to the question discussed is the prob- 
lem of retardation. There are not as many figures avail- 
able, however, on this problem as there are on that of 
elimination. In a number of instances children have 
been promoted to the junior high school who have not 
successfully completed the work of the elementary school ; 
and in many cases tliis method of procedure has been 
justified by the good results that followed. An illustra- 
tion is found in the report of Hilligas on the junior high 
schools of Vermont. He says : "In a number of cases we 
have been bold enough to promote stupid boys and girls 
from as low as the fifth grade directly in the junior high 
school. Results have been most satisfactory. In one of 
the large junior high schools considerable groups of such 
retarded and incompetent boys and girls were thus pro- 
moted. At the beginning of the second year new teachers 
in the school were un.able to select the students thus ad- 
vanced. "^-^ 

Douglass^^ endeavored to collect data that would 
throw some light on the effect of the new institution on 



12. Koos, L. v., r/c Junior High School, p. 22, Iliucourt, Brace and 
Coro-rir.-. Nny,. York, ]!>21. 

13. Ilillino-as, Milo B., Teachers College 'Record, Vol. 19, p. 343, Sept., 
1918. 

14. Op. cit., pp. 110-113. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 63 

the retardation of pupils. The figures furnished by some 
schools indicate that retardation was lessened, while in 
a few instances it was shown to have increased. Less 
than half of those to whom the questionnaire was sent 
answered the question on retardation, and a number 
frankly stated that they were unable to say what the effect 
had been. In view of the replies received Douglass con- 
cludes "The chief point brought out is that the junior 
high school is not a sure cure for this problem; but, on 
the contrary, the greatest care is needed to protect the 
young pupil from a departmentalized school where re- 
quirements in "high school" subjects are too high, or 
where subject-matter is otherwise poorly presented and 
where the individual is lost sight of. If these obstacles 
are overcome, we have reason to believe retardation will 
be reduced." 

Mangun^^ presents two table's designed to prove that 
retardation was lessened after the introduction of the 
new institution. He, however, does not give any account 
of the ways and means by which this improvement was 
secured. A reproduction of these tables appears to be 
the shortest and best way to present his argument. 

Table I 

No. of Pupils Percentage 
Underage 126 12.3 

Normal 235 22.9 

Overage 665 64.8 



1,026 100.00 

This table is a summary of the age grade situation 
September, 1915. It shows that the ratio of retarded 
pupils to accelerated pupils is somewhat more than 5-1. 
The following table, No. II, shows the situation in June, 
1917, as compared with the situation of September, 1915. 

15. Op. cit., p. 610. 



64 





The Junior High School 






Table 


II 






Per cent 


Per cent 


Per cent of 




1915 


1917 


Improvement 


Underage 


12.3 


25.85 


13.55 


Normal 


22.9 


23.10 


0.2 


Overage 


64.8 


51.05 


13.75 



Here the ratio of retarded pupils to accelerated 
pupils is 2-1 instead of 5-1. Mangnn attributes this im- 
provement to reorganization, and he furthermore believes 
that in time this unsatisfactory condition can be entirely 
removed by providing more completely for individual 
differences in pupils by offering varied types of courses. 

A problem more difficult than either of these just 
mentioned is to determine whether or not the junior high 
school has actually produced better scholarship than the 
school it is intended to supersede. The method generally 
used is to compare the standings of a group of pupils 
who have attended a junior high school with the stand- 
ings of a group which has not. Attempts have been made 
in this manner to determine as accurately as possible 
whether there is miy advantage on the side of the junior 
high school when its results are measured in terms of 
academic accomplishments. The difficulty lies in the 
fact, mentioned before, that no generally accepted stand- 
ards of measurement are at hand by means of which the 
abilities of each group can be determined for the com- 
parison. That tlie marks given by teachers are unreliable 
is well known, but these, for the most part, are the only 
means available upon which a comparison can be made. 
Opinions of those who have had experience in schools of 
both types have received some consideration in endeavor- 
ing to reach conclusions in this matter. These opinions, 
too, it seems reasonable to suppose, are based to a great 
extent upon the rating given a pupil by his teacher. Com- 
parison of the two groups has also been based upon the 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational Sijfitem 65 

results of uniform examinations taken by these students 
toward the end of their course in the senior high school. 

A rather careful examination of the results of the 
junior high school organization in English and mathe- 
matics was made by Stetson.^^ In this study one-half 
of the records examined were those of students who had 
attended the junior high school and the other half of 
those who had completed their elementary education in 
the traditional school. Each student's report represents 
a study of seven years of his public school life, beginning 
with the sixth grade. Up to this grade all of the 404 
students had the same kind of school training. Further- 
more, in the selection of the students for this comparison 
care was taken to make sure that they were comparable. 
The results of the comparison show: "The difference in 
form of organization to have had little influence on their 
scholastic work in English. "^^ The average median for 
the junior high school group in English was 85.63 per cent, 
and for the non-junior group it was 84.34 per cent, a 
difference of only 1.3 per cent. It is hardly probable 
that any one would attempt to construct an argument for 
the new institution on such a slight difference. 

The median achievement of the two groups in mathe- 
m-atics shows about the same result, except that the small 
advantage in this subject Avas found to be in favor of the 
non-junior group. As far as this study is concerned 
there appears to be no ground for an argument in behalf 
of the junior high school from the point of view of pro- 
ficiency in mathematics. It is plain, however, that in both 
English and mathematics the work in the junior high 
school is as well done as it is in the ordinary elementary 
school; but it is equally apparent that students are no 
better prepared for advanced work in one school than in 
the other. 



16. Statistical Study of the ScJwlastie Eecords of 404 Junior and 
Non-Junior High School' Students. School Review, 25: 617-630, Nov., 1917. 

17. Stetson, op. cit., p. 623. 



66 The Ju7iior High School 

Stetson declares: "In view of the foregoing, one is 
forced to the conclusion that the increased cost of the 
intermediate school in Grand Rapids from the point of 
view of instruction does not find its justification in better 
scholastic work in the senior high school." 

This one instance is not sufficient to furnish a basis 
for any general conclusion regarding the scholarship of 
pupils educated in the junior high schools. Besides it is 
claimed that the reorganization in Grand Rapids, during 
the period examined, had not made any change in the 
curriculum. AVith the exception of the fact that Latin 
and German were offered as electives it remained the 
same as the curriculum of the regular elementary school.^-^ 
Furthermore Stetson would justify the junior high school 
in Grand Rapids on the basis of the "intangible results" 
obtained through such features as departmental teach- 
ing, supervised study, grouping of pupils for social activi- 
ties and many others. 

Practically the same conclusion was reached by 
Davis in his study of the reports of two hundred and 
seventy-one pupils who had graduated from the Grand 
Rapids high school. This study was similar to that of 
Stetson in this that approximately one -half of the records 
examined were those of pupils who had been prepared 
in the junior high school, wliile the other half was of 
students who had received their education in the ordinary 
elementary school. Although there is no marked differ- 
ence between the two groups that could be attributed to 
their preparation, the fact that Davis found the slight 
difference in English to be in favor of the non-junior 
group seems worthy of note. 

In some instances high school impils who have 
attended a junior liigli school were found to have received 
higher marks in high school. For exami^le in Cuba, New 
York, the average mark, 73,2 in the ninth grade rose to 



18. School Survey of Grand Bapids, p. 215. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 67 

84.8 in the high school.^^ In other places the induction 
of the new organization was followed by very unsatis- 
factory results. In Los Angeles, for instance, it was 
found necessary after trial to demote a number junior 
high school graduates into lower grades. Of those who 
were permitted to remain only 22 per cent received marks 
as high as in their preparatory school.^^ Further evi- 
dence is furnished in opinions of superintendents and 
teachers to indicate the uncertainty, to say the least, of 
the junior high schools' success in producing better 
scholarship than the conventional type of school. In the 
study of Briggs just referred to, high school teachers 
were practically agreed in thinking that the children from 
the junior high schools who continued their electives 
were not adequately prepared. On the other hand Foster, 
superintendent of schools, Danville, N. Y., states: ''That 
the junior high school has not interfered with the work 
in the three E's is shown by the fact that the percentage 
of students who have passed the Regents' preliminary 
examinations in the past two years is larger than during 
the preceding three years. The work done in the first 
year senior high school is of a higher character than it 
was before the inauguration of our junior liigh school 
department. "^^ 

Another argument for the contention that the junior 
high school secures a higher degree of scholarship is 
based on the assumption that scholastic proficiency can be 
measured by the length of school life. But even if this 
assumption is granted, it still remains true that the 
amount of credit due the junior high school for this con- 
dition will be the same as is due it for the retention of 
children in school. Now it is generally recognized that 

19. Ed. Adm. and Buver., Vol. II, p. 458. 

20. Brigj>-.s, Thos. H., A Study of Coviparative Eesnlts in Intermediate 
and Elementary Schools of Los Anqeles. Journal of Ed. Rosearch. Novem- 
ber, 1920. ' 

21. Quoted from Briggs, The Junior High School, pp. 311-12. 



68 The Junior High School 

a number of factors other than reorganization have con- 
tributed to the stay of children in school, and furthermore 
it is also generally recognized that no means exists at the 
present time by which it would be possible to measure 
how far reorganization is responsible for this condition. 
Neither is it then possible to determine to what extent the 
junior high school has contributed to increased scholar- 
shij} from the point of view of lengthening the school life 
of pupils. 

Uniform examinations have proved scarcely any more 
favorable to the junior high school than the other means 
used to prove its superiority in obtaining better scholar- 
ship. This method of discovering the effect of the junior 
high school organization on scholarship was tried in New 
York City. In June, 1917, uniform examinations in 
Algebra, Commercial Arithmetic, Latin, French, Spanish, 
and German were given to a number pupils in junior 
high schools and to a number of pupils in the senior high 
schools. The result showed that 31 per cent of the junior 
pupils passed in algebra, as compared with 69.5 per cent 
high school pupils ; in commercial arithmetic 34.5 to 54.8 ; 
in Latin 45.9 to 63.6 ; in French 57.6 to 94.9 ; in Spanish 
18.5 to 60.8 ; in German 60.8 to 56.5. Commenting on these 
results, Tildsley says: ''It seems to me that this failure 
to do good w^ork is due in large part to the attempt to 
conduct the intermediate schools as a money-saving 
scheme, and to the fact that teachers are doing this work 
who are not equipped for it, and to the further fact that 
the work has not been supervised by the principals and 
heads of departments with the thoroughness and ability 
with which this supervision is done in the high schools. "^^ 

Passing to another claim of the junior high school, 
the economy of time, it is maintained by the advocates of 
this institution that the junior high school will save 
pupils about one year in securing an education. Statis- 

22. Brport of the Superintendent of Schools of New Torlc, 1917, p. 
124. 



Its Feasibility 17% the Catholic Educational System 69 

tical evidence to demonstrate this claim is very meagre. 
In his study of the Los Angeles junior high schools, 
Briggs^-^ found some evidence that a little time was saved 
by intermediate school graduates. The more gifted and 
industrious pupils were able to obtain enough high school 
credits to save one-half year. No one pupil of those 
studied was able to save more than one semester. As a 
group not even a half year was saved. Stetson found 
that time was saved in Grand Rapids' junior high school, 
through promoting pupils b}'^ subjects. This feature of 
junior high schools prevents a child from repeating two 
or three subjects when he failed only in one, thus leaving 
time for some new work. This is considered economy of; 
time.^^ Mangun, in the article referred to above, men-: 
tions that economy of time was secured by promoting 
over-age pupils to the junior high where they were 
enabled "to work to their full capacity in a congenial 
atmosphere;" through the plan of promoting by subject; 
and by granting high school credits to pupils for work 
done in high school subjects in the eighth grade. 

In some places one of the direct purposes of reor- 
ganization was to enable children to save time. At 
Solvay, N. Y., for instance all pupils who do not change 
their courses after they have begun high school work 
complete it in five years. Unless a much larger number 
of the pupils of Solvay continue the studies elected in 
the lower high school than were found to persevere in 
their first choice at Los Angeles, very few wdll be able 
to avail themselves of the opportunity to bring their 
high school course to completion in five years.-'^ A 
method of reorganization whereby pupils who completed 
the six years high school would have done the work 



23. A Study of Comparative Eesults in Intermediate and Elementary 
Schools of Los Angeles, Journal of Educational Research, Nov., 1920. 

24. Stetson, Paul C, Statistical Study of the Scholastic Becords of 
404 Junior and Non-junior Iligh School Studc7its. School Review, pp. 017- 
36, November, 1917. 

25. Briggs, The Junior nigh School, pp. 814-17. 



70 The Junior High School 

assigned to the first year of college was adopted at East 
Chicago, Indiana. According to Koos,-^ many school 
systems have saved time by "Boldly cutting down the 
twelve year period to eleven for the normal pupils." 

In studying the junior high school from the point of 
view of results a number of other accomplishments are 
mentioned as evidence of the success of the new plan of 
organization. The fact that no system which has been 
reorgaiiized along the lines of junior high school theory 
has returned to the conventional plan nor has any desire 
to return been expressed by those in charge of these 
systems is considered evidence that reorganization has 
proven satisfactory. It is reported^'' that the junior high 
plan has served better to adjust the w^ork of the school 
to the children. This seems to justify the claim of pro- 
viding for individual differences. Another good result 
attributed to reorganization by the same superintendent 
is a reduction of congestion in the primary grades. A 
few principals and teachers whose views w^ere obtained 
regarding results of reorganization reported: "a more 
favorable attitude on the part of pupils, probably more 
favorable than ordinarily obtains, toward further 
schooling;" "a marked improvement in discipline in the 
elementary school after the removal of the seventh and 
eighth grades;" "better opportunity is given the adoles- 
cent to develop and express his individuality." The 
very common adoption of departmental teaching in the 
junior high school is frequently presented as evidence 
that the results which are expected to follow departmen- 
talization have actually been obtained in virtue of the 
new institution. Through this plan of teaching oppor- 
tunity is provided for students to come into contact with 
many teacher^, some of whom are men. Furthermore 



26. The Junior High School, p. 29. 

27. Mangun, Vernon L., Soyne Junior High School Facts Drawn from 
Two Years of the 6-6 Plan at Macomb, III. Elem. School Jour., pp. 598-617, 
April, 1918. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 71 

these teachers are specialists, who are qualified to give 
the pupil an outlook upon their particular field not pos- 
sible in the one teacher plan. Opinions vary so much 
regarding junior high school costs that the mention by a 
few of a financial saving as a result of reorganization is 
not looked upon as a thing to be expected of the junior 
high school in general. Besides reducing elimination 
and increasing the number of pupils who, after com- 
pleting the eighth grade, still remain in school, the junior 
high school, according to Weets, has brought about ''a 
much saner distribution of high school pupils." 

Table I^^ 

Distribution 

Under old plan J. H. S. plan 

Courses per cent per cent 

College preparatory 66 33 

Commercial 27 33 

Industrial and Household arts 7 34 

It may be added that the junior high school has 
given some secondary education to pupils who w^ould not 
have entered the high school. Moreover, through election 
of subjects it has perhaps convinced those who did not 
continue their choice in the high school of their inapti- 
tude for such work. 

Two letters w^hich are considered typical of many 
received by Briggs^'^ from junior high school principals 
in widely scattered areas of the country may be quoted as 
reflecting the sentiments of those in charge of these insti- 
tutions relative to results. The first of these letters 
states: "Our work as now carried on is more interest- 
ing to the pupils, and therefore we are holding them in 
school longer. My belief that the work is. more inter- 



28. Weet, Herbert S., Proceedings N. E. A. 1916, pp. 1036-42. 

29. Briggs, The Junior Iligh School, p. 320. 



72 The Junior High School 

esting is supported by the statement of the pupils. In 
answer to the question whether they prefer the new 
plan and why, 90 per cent expressed a preference for the 
junior high school, 40 per cent giving as their reason the 
advantage of promotion by subject. Tw^o other reasons 
which stood out were the opportunities for election of 
subjects and the fact that the work is more pleasant when 
there is a change of teachers from period to period. Not 
one of us, faculty or board of education would consider 
for a moment going back to the old plan." (Ellenville, 
New York.) 

The second letter is as follows : ' ' The change to the 
junior high plan has had a wonderful effect. The intro- 
duction of new subjects and a revision of the content of 
the old with a modification in methods of teaching have 
greatly stimulated the children's interest in school work. 
There has been greater harmonj^ between pupils and 
teachers, and a more friendly spirit has been clearly 
evident. Both have been happy in their work and much 
pleased w^itli the new arrangement. The discipline has 
been easier, and undesirable tension has been approach- 
ing the minimum rapidly. The pupils go about their 
work in much more business-like v.'ay and are more 
thoughtful and dependable. They have learned to make 
a better use of their study periods, and the lessons are 
better prepared. With this has come an increased power 
of initiative. The result has been gratifying. I have 
taken pains to question both my corps of teachers and 
the pupils concerning this new arrangement and I find 
the answers practically unanimous in its favor. No 
teacher wishes to go back into the regular grade work, 
and the pupils express themselves as much pleased at the 
change. "'^^ 

From the foregoing it seems safe to conclude that 
it is not possible, at the present time, to gather data on 



30. Chelsea, Mass. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 73 

the different results which could be designated typical. 
This conclusion is strengthened by the willingness of the 
supporters of the theory themselves to admit that such 
evidence as has been mustered together relative to the 
results obtained in existing junior high schools is not 
entirely satisfactory or conclusive. But they object to 
the method of determining the value of the theory, 
namely, by comparing the results procured in so-called 
junior high schools with those of the conventional school. 
This objection rests on the claim that very few, if any, 
real junior high schools exist.^^ Besides, it is main- 
tained this institution has not been in existence long 
enough to have permitted many details to be worked 
out, which experience and experiment alone can evolve. 
Then, too, many present obstacles, such as lack of quali- 
fied teachers, proper equipment, and satisfactory build- 
ing accommodations, must be removed; many superin- 
tendents and principals must be given a clear idea of 
the aim in view, of the true spirit of the movement, and 
of the necessity of a definite policy w^hen planning the 
the establishment of a junior high school. 

This objection is not aimed at the above-mentioned 
criterion of judging theories, but at the attempt to judge 
this particular theory by results obtained in institutions 
that do not include all the requirements of the theory. 
In other words the final test of the junior high school 
must be the results gained in a school in which all the 
essential features are provided and in which they are 
administered in a manner designed to achieve the de- 
sired results. 

The supporters of the junior high school theory, 
while admitting the institution is still in the develop- 
mental stage, are convinced that the thoroughgoing 
junior high school, once it is established, will produce 
expected results. For they no longer entertain any doubt 



31. Koos, L. v., op. cit., p. 26. 



74 The Ju7iior High School 

relative to the soundness of the theory or its workability. 
It is taken for granted by many that the theory has been 
generally accepted by the educators of the country. 
According to Ballon, superintendent of schools, District 
of Columbia, there is no longer any serious discussion 
of this question. The educational profession of the 
country has accepted the junior high school plan. And 
Briggs-^^ declares: "The arguments for a reorganiza- 
tion of secondary education so as to provide some form 
of junior higli school are now generally accepted as 
sound. The broad discussion and debate at teachers' 
meetings and in educational magazines a few years ago 
have given place to questions concerning the means of 
securing the best reorganization of the school system 
both as a whole and in its details." 

The statistical data and opinions of superintendents, 
principals and teachers cited in this chapter at least 
indicate that particular junior high schools have pro- 
duced better results than the traditional school. This 
augurs w^ell for the new institution, especially when it 
is remembered that none of these schools has been com- 
pletely reorganized according to the junior high school 
theory. When the concensus of opinion of many eminent 
educators is considered in connection with actual results 
indicative of the possibilities of a fully developed junior 
high scliool, the result is a strong argument in favor of 
thorough reorganization. 



32. The Junior nigh School, p. 322 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 75 



CHAPTER V 

THE JUNIOR HIGH 'SCHOOL IN THE CATHOLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEM 

The movement to add a new institution to the 
existing ones in the educational system in this country — : 
an institution which shall find its place between the 
elementary school and the high school — has already 
passed through the stages of academic discussion and 
that of the consideration of working plans. It is now a 
fact. Although this institution has not yet taken final 
fornij the laborious task has begun of working out, detail 
by detail, its specific purposes and the means by which 
these purposes are to be accomplished. The junior high 
school has been adopted and is now on trial. While its 
advocates are convinced that the junior high school 
theory is both sound and workable, the future alone can 
settle this question. The purpose of this chapter is to 
discuss the feasibility of the junior high school in the 
Catholic school system. 

Whether education beyond the grades should be pro- 
vided for all children is no longer an open question. The 
recent enactment of compulsory education laws, requiring 
children to attend school, either full or part time, up to 
their sixteenth year and in some instances until the 
eighteenth year, together with the change in public 
opinion regarding secondary education for the masses 
have practically settled this matter. "It is no longer a 
question of whether or not children should be given a 
high school education, but rather a question of where 
they should receive it."^ The trend of Catholic educa- 
tional discussion in the annual reports of the Catholic 



1. Flood, Rev. John E., The Catholic Educational Eeview, Vol. XX, 
No. 2, p. 60, Feb. 1922. 



76 The Junior High School 

Educational Association, and the efforts put forth in the 
past few years to establish Catholic high schools indicate 
quite clearly that the Church intends to provide hor chil- 
dren with the advantages of a secondary education with- 
out exposing them to the manifold dangers to faith that 
exist in non-catholic high schools. 

If all children are to receive a secondary education, 
or at least be given the opportunity to receive a high 
school training, it is evident that the school must provide 
the different courses which the various classes of chil- 
dren need. A high school that offers nothing more than 
the college preparatory course may be willing to accept 
any child who desires to enter it, but it is not offering 
equal opportunity to all. In other words the same 
opportunity is not equal opportunity. The high school 
must take into consideration the future life work of the 
child and assist him in so far as it is possible to prepare 
for the particular field of activity in wliicli he expects to 
earn his livelihood, contribute his share to society, and 
work out his salvation. The high school of today then 
has a twofold purpose, namely, to prepare for college 
those children, who will have the opportunity to continue 
their education and to qualify the others to take their 
place in the world. The problem is to determine the kind 
of school organization that will best serve this purpose. 

There are two leading views today relative to the 
school and the accomplishment of its purposes. The one 
maintains the necessity of a complete reorganization, an 
entirely new arrangement of our educational forces ; the 
other iiolds that the existing system of organization if 
properly administered is well able to satisfy all demands 
that may reasonably be made on the school. The weight 
of authority, and reason, if some fundamental assump- 
tions are accepted, seem to favor the first opinion. 
Furthermore practice appears to be gradually conform- 
ing to the proposed ])lan of reorganization, in so far at 
least as the State schools are concerned. There are one 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 77 

or more junior liigli schools in every State in the United 
States, but as far as could be ascertained no Catholic 
system has introduced the new organization. 

The problem that confronts Catholic educators in 
regard to the junior high school seems to be: Should 
this institution be adopted in the Catholic system and is 
its adoj^tion feasible? The first question to be solved 
is : Are the purposes, which the junior high school is 
expected to realize, desirable from a Catholic point of 
view and are they such as the school may reasonably be 
expected to accomplish! Should investigation show these 
purposes to be desirable and their realization a proper 
function of the school, it still remains to be determined 
whether the junior high school is capable of accomplish- 
ing them; whether it is the most economical plan of 
organization; and whether it is the best plan! The 
second question to present itself is: Is the junior high 
school feasible in the Catholic system involves a num- 
ber of important administrative considerations. 

The ends to be attained by the junior high school are 
without doubt very desirable. But it is not so certain 
that the school should be held responsible for the realiza- 
tion of all these purposes. There are other agencies 
which must bear a share in the work of guiding the child 
to the perfection of manhood. As noted elsewhere, how- 
ever, the responsibilities of the school have necessarily 
been increased through the great industrial, economical 
and social changes of comparatively recent years. 

Most educators, however, consider the aims of the 
junior high school to fall properly within the scope of 
the school's work. 

Apart from this aspect of the question it is certainly 
the most natural thing in the world to seek a remedy for 
any recognized defect in the school. The accumulative 
argument set forth to prove the existence of a number 
of defects in the present plan of school organization 



78 The Junior High School 

loaves no doubt that some repair work must be done or 
some new i)arts must be procured to replace those that 
no longer respond to apparent needs. 

Under the existing- plan of organization more time 
is consumed than ought to be necessary for the results 
obtained. Catholic educators seem to be fairly agreed in 
admitting this defect of the eight-four plan. Indeed, 
some leading Catholic educators believe that elementary 
education can be completed in six years. ''With better 
teaching" says Bishop McDevitt, "with proper condi- 
tions in our schools, smaller classes, and a longer school 
term, the work that is now done in eight years, and done 
sometimes badly, can be done well in six years. Two 
years of school life can thus be saved for higher 
studies."^ Brother John Waldron, treating of doing the 
work proper to the elementary school in six years, writes : 
"In many dioceses and especially where there is excel- 
lent and effective supervision, it can; but, frankly said, 
in some schools it cannot be done, as long as certain 
obstacles are there to impede the work. "-^ At the con- 
vention of the Catholic Educational Association held in 
New Orleans in 1913, Msgr. Howard strongly defended 
a six year elementary course in a paper entitled, "The 
Problem of the Curriculum." And in 1919 the same 
matter was discussed by Fr. Henry S. Spaulding, S. J. 
He believes absolutely in a six year elementary school. 
He declared that: "AVhile the printed records of their 
opinions and discussions may not be many, I wish to 
state that Catholic educators have for the last thirty 
years or more been decrying this jumble of educational 
methods."-^ 



2. Cited from Burns, J. A., Catholic Education, p. 80. Longmans, 
Green and Company, Now York, 1917. 

3. Waldron, Bro. Jolin, " IJow many grades slio^ild there he in the 
elementary school?" Ann. Report Catholic Educational Association, 1910, 
Vol. VII, p. 290. 

4. "Eeadjustment of the Time Element in Education." Ann. Report, 
C. E. A. 1919, p. 82. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 79 

Granting that too mucli time is given to elementary 
education, what then is the remedy! Now it must be 
remembered that the centre of attack has been the seventh 
and eighth grades of the elementary school. However, 
theoretical discussion will never determine the amount 
of time necessary for the acquisition of an elementary 
education. Indeed it is not possible for all children to 
attain the same standard in the same number of years. 
For practical purposes it seems essential to adopt, at 
least tentatively, some definite standard of elementary 
school requirements. Several such attempts have been 
made.'^ When some standard shall have been accepted, 
actual trial alone will or can determine the amount of 
time the normal child will require for its attainment. In 
so far as this one question of saving time is concerned, 
it is difficult to see the necessity of an entirely new insti- 
tution. 

The causes of this prodigal expenditure of time are 
attributed to poor teaching, poor text-books, and the 
presence in the curriculum of a large amount of non- 
essential matters. The proper remedy for any defect is 
to remove its cause or causes. In this instance, better 
preparation of teachers, provision of text-books that are 
designed according to the best known methods, and a 
careful study of the content of the curriculum with the 
view of eliminating all non-essential subjects or partic- 
ular portions of subjects appear to be the logical method 
of procedure. So, too, the so-called "fads and frills" and 
''odds and ends" can surely be dropped without the 
establishment of an entirely new institution. Merely to 
cut off two grades from the eight years now given to 
elementary education and to transfer the children to a 



5. Lirttle, E. W., Should the Twelve Year Course of Study be Equally 
Divided Between the Elementary School and the Secondary Scliool? Pro- 
ceedings, N. E. A., 1905, pp. 428-36. Also Cleveland Eeport on the Six 
Year Course of Study, Proceedings, N. E. A., 1908, pp. 627-28. And 
Howard, Rt. Rev. Francis W., "The Problem of the Curriculum." Ann. 
Report C. E. A., Vol. X, pp. l?,2-47, 1913. 



80 The Junior High School 

new institution styled the junior high school would prob- 
ably result ill a condition similar to the One caused by 
tacking a four year high school course on to an eight 
year elementary course. The reorganization of the 
elementary school must take place before, or at least 
simultaneously with earlier entrance into high school 
work. 

If we assume the soundness of the psychological 
grounds upon Avhicli it is claimed that differentiation of 
work must begin at the end of the sixth year in school or 
at about the twelfth year of the child's life, some other 
form of organization than Ave now have seems to be ne- 
cessary; for, as Briggs states, "even the beginning of 
differentiation is impossible in the usual elementary 
school."^ While it is beyond the scope of this treatise 
to consider the psychological aspect of the question, it 
may be noted that the adolescent period of life begins 
earlier for girls than for boys, and that it is not reached 
by all individuals of the same sex at the same age. The 
demand for differentiation in w^ork at the age of twelve 
based on the psychology of adolescence does not rest on 
a certain argument. There are other arguments, how- 
ever, that urge differentiation at the end of the sixth 
school year. 

The unduly large number of children who leave 
school at the end of the sixth, seventh and eighth grades 
is believed to be owing, in no small measure, to lack of 
provision on the part of the school to meet the particular 
needs of these children. Even the few who expect to con- 
tinue their education through high school and college are 
detained unnecessarily long in elementary work. On 
the other hand, the children destined to enter upon their 
life's vocation at the close of their elementary school 
course find nothing in the present seventh and eighth^ 
grades that appeals to them as essential or even advan- 
tageous. This at least indicates the urgency of provid- 



G. Tlie Junior Jligh School, p. 17. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 81 

ing offerings in the seventh and eighth grades that will 
meet the needs of such children. When both children 
and their parents are convinced that the school is pre- 
pared properly to care for their natural abilities, inter- 
ests and capacities, and that the school will, in the long 
run, do them more good than immediate entrance into 
some haphazardly chosen occupation, far more children, 
no doubt, will give more time to education. But the mere 
retention of children in school is not in itself an asset. 
There is danger that anxiety to prolong the school-life 
of all children wdll, under the guise of a false doctrine 
of interest, result in catering to the caprices and whims 
of some of them to such an extent as unwittingly to en- 
courage loose, lazy habits of work, and at the same time 
to develop unstable, wavering, superficial characters. 
Unless the child profits by his stay in school, he is better 
off at work. There are many children undoubtedly 
engaged in occupations of one kind or another wdio would 
have been of greater benefit both to themselves and to 
society had they received a better education, or rather 
had the school provided the kind of education their 
individual needs demanded. 

Another fact seems to support the contention that 
differentiation should begin earlier. The large amount 
of retardation is certainly due in part to lack of proper 
regard for the individual differences in children. It is 
a waste of time, money and energy to have children 
repeat work for which they are evidently not qualified. 
Then, too, different courses will be a powerful aid in 
discovering different capacities, tastes, interests and 
abilities, and enabling pupils to make a more reasonable 
choice of a vocation and of a preparatory high school 
course. No scale of measurement has yet been invented 
by which the amount of retardation obviated by the 
junior high school can be determined. Nevertheless the 
conviction is strong in the minds of many educators that 
it merits some credit for improvement in this respect. 



82 The Junior High School 

Nor will the school be able to discover the different ca- 
pacities of the child to an extent that will result in infal- 
lible guidance toward the correct vocation. But surely 
it will be far better able to direct the child, after testing 
his abilities, than such agencies as the street, child com- 
panions, and advertisements in newspapers and maga- 
zines. No one will deny the desirability of differentiated 
Avork in so far as it will contribute to the reduction of 
elimination and retardation and in so far as it will con- 
tribute to better preparation of children for their life's 
work. 

While statistics are not available to show the exact 
amount of retardation and elimination in our Catholic 
schools, the similarity of our sj^stem with that of the 
State would naturally lead us to expect the existence of 
both these defects. Dr. McCormick, wdio examined the 
statistics available in 1911, said: "It would appear 
from the data we possess for our Catholic school system, 
that both classes of children (retarded and eliminated) 
are with us to an alarming extent."' In addition to the 
defects just mentioned, retardation and elimination, it 
must also be recognized that there is no more provision 
for individual differences in our Catholic schools than 
in the usual eight-four plan. 

The junior high school will undoubtedly provide 
conditions for better teaching. Under this plan large 
numbers of children of approximately the same age are 
gathered together in the same building, and this fact 
permits a classification as homogeneous as possible. 
Evidently the nearer alike the children of each class are 
in capacity, ability and acquired experience, the easier 
the task of the teacher in furthering their education. 
With a group of this type any teacher should obtain 
l)etter results than are possible in the ordinary eight 
grade elementary school. Better conditions for teaching. 



7. A7in. Beport C. E. A., Vol. VIII, p. ;!28 (1911). 



Its Feasihilitjj in the Catholic Educational System 83 

all other tliing\< being equal, and a higher degree of 
scholarship on the part of the pupils will certainly result 
from better teaching. 

Some remedy for the crowded conditions of our 
schools is an urgent necessity. It is most unreasonable 
to expect any teacher to do justice to every individual 
in a class of 100, or 80, or even 70 children.^ Such a 
condition is not only an evil in itself, but a contributory 
cause to other evils of the schools; retardation, poor 
scholarship, and untimely elimination. There can be no 
doubt that congestion is an evil, and the purpose to 
remedy it most worthy of consideration and action. The 
junior high school, an entirely new institution, may not 
be the only cure for this particular malady of the elemen- 
tary school, but it is one cure. 

Besides relieving congestion, the segregation of chil- 
dren in the adolescent period of life is intended to provide 
conditions in which discipline, suited to their peculiar 
needs, may be more easily maintained. This aim in itself 
is undoubtedly good, for the child can hardly come to a 
proper appreciation of personal responsibility unless he 
is gradually made to rely upon himself. Now the diffi- 
culty of obtaining even ''Passable behavior on the part 
of boys and girls in the upper grades of our eight-year 
elementary schools ... is a matter of common knowl- 
edge. The struggle is often so arduous that there is 
evidence that sometimes the primary consideration in 
selecting teachers for and assigning them to these grades 
is the ability to police, rather than to instruct."'^ On the 
other hand, "it can hardly be denied that in this field 
(providing for the transition from total dependence upon 
the teacher to dependence on self) the junior high school 
is achieving one of its most marked successes. "-^^ Fur- 
thermore conditions of discipline are not only bettered 

8. Note: The existence of such conditions in our schools is reported 
in a letter from the superior of one of the large teaching communities. 

9. Kooa, L. v., The Junior High School, pp. 72-73. 

10. Briggs, T. H., The Junior High School, p. 247. 



84 The Junior High School 

for the adolescents, but marked improvement has also 
resulted in the elementary schools from which the seventh 
and eighth grades had been removed. 

While we do not believe the discipline in onr Catholic 
schools is snch a difficult problem even in the seventh and 
eighth grades, there probably is reason to question the 
desirabilit}^ of maintaining the kind of discipline suitable 
to childhood in these grades. None of us, it is true, ever 
become entirely independent of authority, still there is a 
difference between the dependence on authority on the 
part of the child and that of the adult. From childhood 
to manhood, there should be a gradual decrease in this 
dependence and a gradual increase of self-reliance. 
Whether this transition can be accomplished under our 
present form of organization is a question. In the past, 
it seems safe to say, it has not been accomplished. On 
the other hand, if the results experienced in State junior 
high schools are indicative of what may be expected of 
Catholic junior high schools, there is reason to believe 
that much may be hoped for in respect of proper disci- 
pline by establishing them in the Catholic system. 

The necessity of vocational education at an earlier 
age is another problem that has received considerable 
attention in connection with the junior high school. The 
term, vocational education, is taken in its generic sense 
and includes trade training, vocational guidance, pre- 
vocational training and avocational training. There are 
a few instances in which trade training might reasonably 
be defended in the junior high school, but these instances 
are the exception rather than the rule. Besides the 
danger of arrested development in too early specializa- 
tion, it seems impractical to provide the large amount 
of equipment, space and special teachers necessary for 
training in particular trades, in view of the very small 
number of pupils that would take up each trade.^^ 

11. Lutz, R. R., Wage Earning and Education, CleTcland Foundation 
Survey. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 85 

Adverting to the fact that in a junior high- school of 
1,000 boys and girls, there would probably be only five 
boys who are likely to become compositors, Lutz says, 
"The expense for equipment, for the space it occupies, 
and for instruction renders special training for such 
small classes impracticable."^^ Vocational guidance, 
general pre-vocational education and some sort of train- 
ing that will assist the pupil in the proper use of leisure 
time are generally accepted as proper functions of the 
junior high school. Catholic educators we believe, might 
well subscribe to these purposes as desirable if not 
entirely necessary functions of the school. It is true 
that at the age of twelve the average pupil has very 
restricted ideas regarding his future and a very incom- 
plete conception of the different vocations.^'-^ If he has 
made a choice — and this would seem to be true of chil- 
dren even two or three years older — he is usually unable 
to give any intelligent reason for the choice made. 
Nevertheless, at the age of twelve children might well 
be instructed regarding the necessity of choosing a future 
occupation and given such knowledge and help as will 
serve them in making a choice when the proper time 
arrives. 

There are a number of other purposes commonly 
ascribed to the new plan of organization, but examina- 
tion of the literature on the subject shows clearly that 
none of them receives the frequent consideration of those 
already mentioned. Since all these less frequently men- 
tioned aims are to be realized through the same features 
as the more commonly mentioned aims, w^e shall pass on 
to a consideration of these features. In this respect the 
most frequently mentioned and certainly the most com- 
mon factor in practice, is departmental teaching. Many 
arguments have been offered in support of this method of 
teacliing in the grades which, properly,, belong to the 



12. Op. cit., pp. 48-49. 

13. Lewis, Erviii E., Worlc, Wages and Schooling of 800 Iowa Boys. 



86 The Junior High School 

junior high school. A numl)er of the identical arguments 
have been advanced in opposition to it. For instance, it 
is claimed that departmental teaching will result in in- 
creased interest and consequently in better work on the 
l)art of the pupils, while others maintain the result AVJl! 
be confusion of the pupils. The chief danger of depart- 
mental teaching in grades seven and eight is that the 
individual will not receive the personal attention he 
needs. Observations made in a number of schools in 
which this method prevails indicate a tendency to lose 
track of the individual. Furthermore the demand for a 
system of personal advisers is a mark of the weakness 
of departmentalization. Then, too, if the change from 
the one teacher plan to the many teacher plan at the end 
of the eighth grade is too abrupt and consequently bad, 
what is to be thought of such a change at the end of 
the sixth grade 1 There are no data or, at least, not suffi- 
cient data as to results that permit an accurate measure- 
ment of the value of departmentalization. While some 
form of partial departmental teaching seems imperative 
in a fully equipped junior high school, we believe full 
departmentalization is a mistake. The formation of the 
child's character requires that he receive considerable 
personal attention at the age of twelve or thirteen. It 
seems quite possible to work out a plan of partial depart- 
mental teaching for seventh and eighth grade pupils in 
which every class will be responsible to one teacher and 
one teacher responsible for every child in his or her class. 

Promotion by subject is a feature of the junior high 
school calculated especially to reduce both retardation 
and elimination. It is a means of giving the pupil credit 
for work done in each subject and of avoiding the neces- 
sity of repeating work creditably finished on account of 
failure in one or two branches. There may be some 
difficulty in certain instances in arranging the program 
of studies, especially wiiere the number of pupils in the 
same grade is small, but the advantages promised by this 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 87 

plan of promoting seem to warrant its adoption. The 
practice of promoting by subject, though not yet univer- 
sal, is rather common in junior high schools.^^ 

Systematic supervision of the pupil's study will 
serve the very important purpose of teaching him how 
to study and at the same time will prevent no little waste 
of time. Moreover, it will aid the teacher greatly in 
recognizing individual differences in the pupils. There 
is no apparent reason to differ with the gradually in- 
creasing tendency to favor this mode of classroom proce- 
dure. It is considered most desirable. Details in prac- 
tice show a wide variation, especially in regard to the 
amount of time that should be given to supervised study. 
But here again final settlement of details must wait upon 
the findings of experience and careful experimentation. 

The most important feature of the junior high school 
relative to the realization of its purposes is the large 
number of pupils of approximately the same school 
standing that are gathered together in one building. 
Differentiated courses — the means of discovering indi- 
vidual differences as well as providing for them — seem 
to be impracticable, to say the least, in the ordinary ele- 
mentary school w^here there are comparatively few chil- 
dren in the seventh and eighth grades. Furthermore 
large numbers are essential for homogeneous classifica- 
tioii — the chief means of providing for better teaching 
and consequently better scholarship. Moreover economy 
of administration depends on the full use of the school 
equipment and of the time of special teachers. The 
expense of providing for the simplest kinds of manual 
training would seem to be prohibitive in a school in which 
there are only fifty or sixty boys in the seventh and eighth 
grades. The same is true of the equipment necessary 
for the teaching of domestic science. In a word a large 
body of pupils is the very foundation of the junior high 
school. 

14. Briggs, T. H., The Junior High School, p. 154. 



88 The Junior High School 

The purposes of the junior high school are such, we 
believe, as will receive the approval of all Catholic edu- 
cators. There may be room to question some of the 
means by which the junior high school is attempting to 
achieve these purposes. Some may not admit that all 
these purposes belong properly to the school, while others 
may still be convinced that all of them can be attained 
in the traditional plan of organization, if it is properly 
administered. It is, however, beyond the scope of this 
treatise to enter further into the theoretical discussion. 
Suffice it to say that the junior high school plan has 
been widely accepted as the best means of attaining the 
purposes generally accepted as proper aims of the school 
of a democracy. And even though it is impossible to 
show that the results obtained liy schools of this type 
already in existence are all that was expected, still there 
is a certain general satisfaction with this institution and 
evident signs that it is being adopted by more and more 
systems. 

It is beyond assumption to say that the junior high 
school can be introduced in the Catholic system, if the 
proper authorities, our bishops, pastors and educational 
leaders decide that it will improve the quality of Catholic 
education. In the past the church has never failed to 
give her children an education that properly prepared 
them for the social, economic and political conditions of 
their time. So today we have no doubt the church will 
meet all the conditions necessary to give her children 
the kind of education that is essential to prepare them 
for the present peculiar conditions of life. There are 
however a number of obstacles in the way of introducing 
the junior high school into the Catholic school system. 
These, however, cannot fail to yield to the united efforts 
of our devoted clergy, self-sacrificing religious men and 
women, and ever faithful laity. 

Before setting forth what is believed to be a work- 
able plan for the introduction of the junior high school 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 89 

into the Catholic system, it is deemed necessary to state 
what the writer believes to be the essential features of 
this new institution. It must be noted that certain local 
conditions will make a large numl)er of modifications 
imperative. The rural junior high school will necessarily 
differ in some respects from the junior high school in the 
town, or small city. In the large cities this institution 
will provide opportunities not possible in smaller com- 
munities. And even in large cities the different local 
conditions will probably call for some variations in 
organization. For these reasons it is proposed to offer 
only a general outline of the features of this school. 

The junior high school is a separate division of the 
educational system functionally related to the elemen- 
tary school on the one hand and to the high school on the 
other, to provide properly for the peculiar needs of adol- 
escent children. The purposes of this school require 
some differentiation of work, promotion by subject, 
supervised study, especially prepared text-books, and 
some form of partial departmentalization. These fea- 
tures in turn demand a building suitably constructed and 
properly equipped; a large student body, which should 
include children of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, 
and in some instances the tenth; an efficient principal 
and a qualified staff of teachers. 

Assuming then the necessity of reorganization in 
the Catholic school system and that the junior higli 
school plan is the best available, we suggest the following 
plan for its establishment : 

Any plan by which this institution is to be estab- 
lished in the Catholic system must provide for a school 
unit larger than the parish. This requirement can be 
met by uniting two, three or more parishes, as conditions 
demand, into a junior high school unit of administra- 
tion. This will not interfere in the least with the parish 
elementary school. It will of course reduce the number 
of grades and consequently the number of children in 



90 The Junior High School 

these schools, but tliis should be an advantage in view 
of the crowded conditions. When the size of the district 
has been determined by the number of Catholic children 
in a given territory, the school should be located as cen- 
trally as circumstances will allow — in such a way if pos- 
sible that no child will have more than two miles to travel 
to school. This distance is a little greater than Spaul- 
ding's^^ standard for the maximum distance for pupils 
to travel, but it is believed that Catholic parents and 
children, too, will readily recognize the difficulties of 
providing schools of this type in a small area, especially 
if the Catholics are few, and that they will readily make 
the little sacrifice demanded in the interests of religious 
education. The chief consideration in the formation of 
these districts is to obtain an attendance of from 400 
to 600 pupils. Opinions differ on this question, it is true, 
and practice varies still more. Nevertheless it seems 
many advantages of this form of organization must l)e 
missed if the number is smaller, while on the other hand, 
if it is larger the work of the principal, the unifying agent 
of the school, can hardly be properly attended to. 

The grounds should be ample for the amount of out- 
door work to be done and for proper recreation. Different 
estim.ates have been made relative to the amount of 
ground necessary, but finally local possibilities must 
determine this matter. The building of course must 
conform to standard requirements in the matter of 
light, heat, ventilation, floor space per pupil, fire protec- 
tion, etc., etc. But in addition to these standard require- 
ments, the junior high school building should have a 
kitchen for domestic science work, a work room for 
manual training, a gymnasium and swimming pool, an 
auditorium for social affairs, and, in cases where it is 



15. Superiuteiideiit Spauldiii"- thinks that a distance not exceeding one 
mile is desirable for children of junior high school age, and that the maxi- 
mum distance should not exceed one and one-half miles. Cited from 
Briggs, T. II., The Junior High School, p. 271. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 91 

not in the immediate vicinity of a church, a chapel. The 
same space might readily be used as chapel and audi- 
torium, provided the building is constructed with this 
intention in mind. 

The problem of obtaining teachers for junior high 
schools has been and still is a most important consider- 
ation. In the Catholic system the teachers now occupied 
with seventh and eighth grade work would be the most 
available. The experience these teachers have had, sup- 
plemented with a special course on tlie junior high school, 
including a general treatment of its purposes, the means 
by v/hich they are expected to be accomplished, the 
psychology of adolescence, and junior high school 
methods, would furnish our schools mth teachers at 
least equal to those in the State junior high school, pro- 
vided, of course, they have had adequate academic 
training. This arrangement would not call for more 
teachers. In some instances, as a consequence of equal- 
izing the number of pupils in each class, consolidation 
might result in a saving of teachers. The chief difficulty 
in this respect seems to be the securing of male teachers 
for junior high schools in our system. The shortage of 
religious in practically all the teaching brotherhoods is 
only too well known. The discussions and suggestions in 
the meetings of the Catholic Educational Association on 
ways and means of fostering vocations for the teaching 
orders leave no doubt that many more teachers are 
needed even under present conditions.^^ There can be no 
doubt that sufficient vocations to the religious life exist, 
for "God, assuredly, in His unfailing providence, lias 
marked for the grace of vocation those w^ho are to serve 



16. Proceedings C. E. A. 1920, p. 217, "The Need of Beligious Vo- 
eations for the Teaching Orders. Hayes, D. D., Rev. Ralph L., Ibid. p. 485. 
Vocations for the Beligious Life. A Sister of Holy Cross, Notre Dame, 
Ind. Ihid. 1921, p. 301. On Vocations to the Teaching Brotherhoods. 
Sauer. Brother George N., S. M. 



92 The Junior High School 

llim as His clioseii instruments."-^" It remains for all 
responsible for the direction of the young to make use of 
all the means suggested by those who have carefully 
studied the question of vocations to the teaching orders 
and then we may be sure there will be no shortage of 
teachers for our scliools. "It lies with us," continues 
the Pastoral Letter, "to recognize tliese vessels of elec- 
tion and to set them apart, that tliey may be duly 
fashioned and tempered for the uses of their calling." 
All "who have the care of souls," parents and teachers, 
are "charged" by the bishops "to note the signs of 
vocation, to encourage young men and women who mani- 
fest the requisite dispositions, and to guide them with 
prudent advice. "^"^ 

Then, too, the difficulty of securing men teachers 
may be overcome to some extent by enlisting the services 
of some of our young priests. We believe there are many 
who would find delight in school work; some, given the 
opportunity for professional training, would make excel- 
lent principals of either junior or senior high schools; 
others might j^refer classroom work. Almost all assistant 
priests or curates could find a few hours during the week 
that could be devoted to the school with great profit to 
themselves as well as to the cause of Catholic education. 
If this future work in the school were kept in mind by 
those who are responsible for the preparation of candi- 
dates for the priesthood both in the minor and major 
seminaries, at the end of his course the newly ordained 
would certainly be well prepared academically for 
teaching. And it should not be impossible to devise a 
plan, should our bishops deem it advisable, whereby all 
priests who are to engage in school work would be per- 
mitted to spend one year, at least, at the Catholic Uni- 



17. Pa^storal Letter of the Archbishops and Biahopfi assemhled in 
Conference, September, 1919, p. 28. The N. C. W. C, Washington, D. C, 
1920. 

18. Ibid. pp. 28-29. 



Its Feasibilitij in the Catholic Educational System 93 

versify where, we believe, a course offering the necessary 
professional training would be gladly given by the uni- 
versity authorities. 

In the standard junior high school, each grade will 
be divided into three, four or even five classes, composed 
of pupils as nearly equal as possible. The same sub- 
jects should be required in each class, but the course 
should be limited in such a way regarding time as to 
permit some elective subjects. These electives, it is be- 
lieved, should be arranged in groups on the basis of the 
possible future occupations of the children. The child's 
elementary school record, his own desires, the wishes of 
his parents, and the opinion of his former teachers may 
be made the basis for determining the elective course he 
is to follow. Since this choice cannot be more than ten- 
tative, it should be possible for any child to change at the 
end of each semester. This arrangement will serve the 
two-fold purpose of testing each child's capacity for a 
particular vocation and of giving him a general view of 
the many different occupations in which men are engaged. 
In each course actual experience, as far as possible, 
should be added to the verbal instruction on the require- 
ments for the particular vocation. 

The chief considerations in the formation of the 
curriculum of the junior high school are to determine the 
subjects that will be taught and which shall be required 
or elective. The value of a subject in achieving the 
ultimate and proximate ends of education dei^ends prin- 
cipally upon the matter treated and the method of pre- 
senting it. The subjects that are of general necessity for 
social integration and welfare, for individual culture, and 
for continued training in the fundamental processes 
should be obligatory. In addition to the required sub- 
jects different groups of electives will provide general 
basic courses leading to a professional, an industrial, an 
agricultural, or a commercial career. A domestic instead 
of an industrial arts course should be offered for girls. 



94 The Junior High School 

Furthermore a number of extra-curricular or social ac- 
tivities will be a great benefit to all pupils. 

The detailed planning of time schedules and the 
assignment of work to the teachers will require careful 
study and considerable experimentation. In general one 
teacher may be expected to handle the courses in 
Religion, English, and the social studies in the seventh 
and eighth grades. This teacher should be known as the 
class teacher and should be made responsible for each 
pupil of his class in all phases of the pupil's school life. 
Mathematics, industrial arts, domestic science, general 
science and the languages, though required subjects, are 
of such a nature that they will demand special teachers. 
The elective courses will necessarily require more special- 
ized work and hence special teachers. This plan will 
provide better, it is believed, for the symmetrical devel- 
opment of the child than the one teacher for every sub- 
ject plan. It will also make better provision for proper 
correlation of work, and at the same time avoid the 
danger of too early specialization. At the same time 
the child by coming into contact with different teachers 
in his elected course will be gradually introduced to the 
departmental method. Furthermore the fact that some 
of the studies found in the elective courses are properly 
secondary school subjects will serve to bridge the so- 
called gap between the present elementary school and 
the high school. The pupils wiio have passed through a 
junior high school of this type will be prepared to enter 
upon the work of the senior high school with as much 
ease as they pass from one grade to another in the lower 
schools. This condition should prove to be a remedy for 
the undue pupil mortality at the end of the first high 
school year. 

It is unnecessary^ to treat of the spirit that should 
guide the religious teacher or the motives that should 
bring foi-tli whole-hearted interest in his w^ork. All our 
teachers have received ample preparation in this respect. 



Its Feasihilitij in the Catholic Educational System 95 

Bound by sacred vows freely taken to obey their 
superiors,' they readily appreciate the necessity of ac- 
cepting and cooperating with the plans laid down by the 
principal under the instruction of the diocesan superin- 
tendent. Since their motives in entering a teaching order 
are the highest that can actuate a teacher, viz., the love 
of God and the spiritual and temporal welfare of chil- 
dren, they seek no earthly reward but look forward to 
that eternal reward promised by Him Who knows all 
things. We may therefore reasonably expect that every 
such teacher will give the very best that is in him. 

The administration of all junior high schools should 
be in the hands of the diocesan school board. The execu- 
tive officer of the board, the diocesan superhitendent, 
should have the same direction of these schools as he has 
of the elementary and senior central high schools. And 
the position of the pastor relative to the parochial school 
might be filled by a committee composed of all pastors 
whose parishes have been consolidated into a junior high 
school unit of administration. The management of the 
school and the entire work of supervision should be left 
in the hands of the principal, who, it is understood, will 
work in harmony with and under the direction of the 
diocesan superintendent. The principal should be free 
to devote his entire time to supervision and administra- 
tion and not be hampered in the exercise of these duties 
by any obligation of teaching. This of course may not 
always be possible in practice but it is ideal and should 
be aimed at in all instances. 

There are assuredly many obstacles which must be 
removed before this or any other junior high school plan 
can become a reality in the Catholic school system. The 
chief difficulties seem to be the location of the building, 
obtaining the necessary finances, and the securing of 
qualified teachers. The internal arrangement of the 
school, determining the courses of study, selecting text- 
books, arranging a time schedule and many other details, 



96 The Junior High School 

thoiigli by no means an easy task, may well be left to the 
knowledge and good judgment of the superintendent and 
his advisers. These matters can always be changed when 
more definite knowledge is obtained through experimen- 
tation and experience. 

The most serious obstacle will be securing a site for 
the building that Avill permit a sufficiently large number 
of children to attend the school without having to travel 
too great a distance. In some places this difficulty may 
necessitate a special plan and even a sacrifice of some 
advantages of the organization. But as noted above in 
most instances, it seems safe to say. Catholic parents 
will readily realize that the inconvenience of distance 
is not to be compared to the advantages their children 
will receive in getting a sound religious training at the 
same time that their other educational needs are cared 
for in a much better manner than is possible Vv"ithout 
consolidation of our educational forces. 

It is generally conceded that the cost of the junior 
high school will be greater than the cost of the elementary 
school. This does not mean the attaimnent of the same 
educational proficiency will cost more under the new 
plan. In fact it has been demonstrated that under the 
junior high school plan of organization a training in 
every way comparable with that obtainable under the 
eight-four system can be secured at less expense.^^ The 
purpose of the junior high school is to provide a better 
education. This obviously will entail a greater expendi^- 
ture of money. If our schools are to survive, Catholic 
children must be given in addition to their religious 
training as good a preparation for their lives here below 
as they can obtain in the State schools. Our Catholic 
people upon whom the financial burden of the school 
must finally rest have never failed to support every 
worthy cause in the past and there is no reason to doubt 
that now and in the future they will Avillingly supply the 

19. Briggs, T. H., "The Junior High School," p. 84. 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 97 

necessary money to provide their cliilcheu witli tlio kind 
of education demanded by present social conditions. Be- 
sides it has been shown that by providing their own 
schools, our people have actually been obliged to spend 
less money than would be the case if all our children 
were educated in the State schools. This of course is 
due to the self-sacrificing spirit of our devoted religious 
teachers whose salaries are far loss, sometimes only 
about 1/6 as much as teachers in State schools receive. 
While this new type of school will necessitate an in- 
creased expenditure, there is no doubt that our people, 
once convinced their children will benefit in proportion 
to the outlay, will supply the funds for it. 

CONCLUSION 

Reorganization of the State school system in' accor- 
dance with the junior high school theory is taking place 
rapidly in all parts of the country. "It is not improbable 
that five years may see its inclusion in the majority of 
the schools of the country. Prof. Davis, of Ann Arbor, 
has investigated the junior high schools in the North 
Central Association territory, 1917-18, and has found that 
about one-fourth (2,931) of the accredited schools of the 
region contained this form of organization, and that 
about one-sixteenth (72) had been organized in 1917. 
The year 1918, Prof. Davis believes, will show an even 
greater increase. It is believed that the growth in the 
region for which he reports is typical of the whole coun- 
ti^y "^0 From conversation with the superintendent of 
schools, and the principal of the junior high school of 
the District of Columbia; a teacher in the junior high 
school in Holyoke, Massachusetts ; and through communi- 
cation with a member of the board of education in Racine, 
Wisconsin, the writer is informed that in these and other 



20. Eeport of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for the Year 
Ending June 30, 1918, p. 41. 



98 The Junior High School 

places pkuis are crystallizing for the constructiori of one 
or more buildings especially adapted to junior high 
school purposes. It seems safe to conclude iii view of 
these conditions that the junior high school plan of or- 
ganization is destined in time to supplant the system 
now in use. 

In the past the organization of our schools closely 
resembled the organization, of the secular schools, and 
this condition was not always a matter of choice. In 
spite of the fact that many Catholic authorities long ago 
thought the eight-four plan unsound, "yet tliey decided 
to submit to the force of circumstances and adopt a plan 
that was in harmony with the public educational sys- 
tem. "-^'^ In pointing out the similarity between our 
schools and the public schools. Dr. Howard remarks, "The 
eighth^ grade elementary system has been generally 
adopted in this country, and our parish schools have from 
necessity conformed with it."^'^ There is no reason to 
question, we believe, that our schools must conform in a 
general way at least with the State schools. Now that 
the State schools have begun to work out a plan of re- 
organization which substantiallv harmonizes with the 
views of many Catholic educators relative to sound peda- 
gogical principles and that the Church has undertaken to 
provide secondary education for all her children, the 
time seems opportune for a reorganization of our schools 
on these same principles. 



21. Spaulding, S. J., Rov. H. S., Beadjufttment of the Time Elonent in 
Edumtion, C. E. A. Proceedings, 1919, p. 83. 

22. C. E. A. Proceedings, 1913, p. 137. 



Its Feasibilitij in the Catholic Educational System 90 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bibliographies 

Abelson, J., "Bibliography of the Junior High School/' 

Education, October, 1916, pp. 122-29. 
Jucid, C. PL, "Recent Articles and Books on the Junior 

High School." Elementary School Journal, May, 

1917, pp. 674-84. 
U. S. Bureau of Education, "List of References on the 

Junior High School." Library Leaflet No. 5, May, 

1919. 

General Works 

Ayers, L. P. "Laggards in Our Schools." Charities 

Publishing Co., N. Y., 1909. 
Burns, J. A., "Principles, Origin and Establishment of 

the Catholic School System in the United States." 

Benziger Brothers, N. Y., 1912. 
"Growth and Development of the Catholic 

School System in the United States." Benziger 

Brothers, N. Y., 1912. 

"Catholic Education; A Study of Conditions." 



Longmans, Green & Co., N. Y., 1917. 
Cubberley, E. P., "Public School Administration." 

Houghton Mifflin Co., N. Y. 
Dexter, E. G., "A History of Education in the United 

States." N. Y., 1904. 
Hanus, P. H., "A Modern School." Macmillan Co., N. 

Y., 1904. 
Inglis, Alexander, "Principles of Secondary Education." 

Houghton Mifflin Co., N. Y., 1918. 
Johnston, C. H. and Others, "High School Education." 

Charles Scribner's Sons, N. Y. 
McCormick, P. J., "History of Education." The Catholic 

Education Press, Washington, D. C, 1915. 
Shields, T. E., "Philosophy of^ Education." The Catholic 

Education Press, Washington, D. C, 1917. 



100 The Junior High School 

Starch, D., ''Educational Psychology." Macmillan Co., 

N. Y., 1919. 
Wilson, H. B and Lull, H. G., "The Redirection of High 

School Instniction." J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadel- 

])liia, 1921. 

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

General Treatment 

Abelson, Joseph, "Study of the Junior High School 

Project." Education, Oct., 1916, pp. 1-19. 
Armentrout, W. D., "The Theory of the Junior High 

School." Education, May, 1919, pp. 537-41. 
Bennett, G. Vernon, "The Junior High School." Warwick 

& York, Baltimore, 1919. Bibliography. 
Bingaman, C. C, "The Junior High School in Practice." 

^Midland Schools, Feb., 1916, pp. 178-80. 
Briggs, T. H., "The Junior High School." Houghton 

Mifflin Co., N. Y., 1920. Bibliography. 

"The Junior High School." In Report of the 

TJ. S. Commissioner of Education, 1914. Vol. I, pp. 
135-57. 

"What is a Junior High School?" Educational 



Administration and Supervision, Sept., 1919, pp. 
283-301. 

"A Composite Definition of the Junior High 



School." Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, April, 1920, pp. 181-86. 

Brown, G. A., "Junior High Schools." School and Home 
Education, Sept., 1916, pp. 6-8. 

Chapman, I. T., "Obstacles to he Encomitered in the 
Estahlisliment of the Jumior High School." Journal 
of Education, May 18, 1916, pp. 537-41. 

Childs, H. G., "An Investigation of Certain Phases of 
the Reorganization Movement in the Grammar 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 101 

Grades of Indiana Public Schools." Fort Wayne 
Printing- Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1918. 
Claxton, P. P., "The Six-Six Plan of School Orgayiizar- 
tion." Junior High Clearing House, April, 1920, 
pp. 14-16. 
Davis, C. 0., "Junior High Schools in the North Central 
Association Territory." School Review, May, 1918, 
pp. 324-36. 
Dillon, John A., "The Junior High School Plan." Pro- 
ceedings Catholic Educational Association, San 
Francisco Meeting, 1918, pp. 292-301. 
Douglass, A. A., "The Junior High School." National 
Society for the Study of Education. Fifteenth Year- 
Book, Part III, Public School Publishing Co., 
Bloomington, 111., 1919. 
Douglass, H. R., "The Junior High School and the Small 
Toivn." Oregon Teachers Monthly, Sept., 1920, pp. 
31-35. 
Educational Administration and Supervision, Sept., 1916 
(Junior High School Number), contains: 

l—"The Junior High School." Johnston, C. H., 

pp. 413-24. 
2 — "Reorganization of Education for Children 
From 12-14 Years of Age." Snedden, 
David, pp. 425-32. 
3 — "Rochester's Junior High Schools: A Step 
in. Establishing the Six-Three-Three Organ- 
ization." Weet, Herbert S., pp. 433-47. 
4 — "The Training of Teachers for Intermediate 

Schools." Stacy, C. R., pp. 448-55. 

5 — "The Six and Six Plan of Organization for 

the Small School." Park, F.R., pp. 456-60. 

6 — "The Course in Mathematics in the Junior 

School." Taylor, E. H., pp. 461-65. 

High School Teachers' Association of New York, "The 

Junior High School." Bulletin, Jan.. 1916., No. 59. 

Hood, W. R., "Junior and Senior High Schools." Report 



102 The Junior High School 

of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1912, Vol. I, 
pp. 153-56. 

Horn, P. W., "The Junior High School." Ohio Educa- 
tional Monthly, March, 1919, pp. 94-96. 

Judd, Chas. H., ''The Junior High School Grows in 
Favor." Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, 1913, Vol. I, pp. 72-74. 

"The Junior High School." School Review, 

A])ril, 1916, pp. 249-60. 

Kai'idel, I. L,, "The. Junior High School in European 
Systems." Educational Review, Nov., 1919, pp. 
303-27. 

Koos, L. v., "The Junior High School." Harcourt, 
Brace & Co., N. Y., 1921. 

"The Peculiar Functions of the Junior High 

Schools: Their Relative Importance." School Re- 
view, Nov., 1920, pp. 673-81. 

Mangum, Vernon L., "Some Junior High School Facts 
Drawn from Two Years of the Six-and-Six Plan at 
Macomh, III." Elementary School Journal, April, 
1918, pp. 598-617. 

Rorem, S. 0., "What is a Junior High School?" Junior 
High Clearing House (Sioux City, Iowa), March, 
1920, pp. 11-14. 

Smith, AV. A., "Junior High School Practices in Sixty- 
four Cities." Educational Administration & Super- 
vision, March, 1920, pp. 139-49. 

Stetson, Paul C, "Statistical Study of the Scholastic 
Records of 404 Junior and Non-Junior High School 
Students." School Review, Nov., 1917, pp. 617-36. 

Stetson, Paul C, "A Statistical Study of the Junior High 
School from the Point of View of Enrollment." 
School Review, April, 1918, pp. 233-45. 

Wescott, Ralph "Wells, "A Junior High School Cate- 
chism." Journal of Education, Nov., 27th, 1919, pp. 
535-37. 



Its FcasihUiti) in the Catholic Educational System 10;J 

Special Features 

Baker, James H., '' Report of the Committee of tJie 
National Council of Education on Economy of Time 
in Education." U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 
1913, No. 38. 

Brigg^^, T. H., "A Study of Comparative Results in Inter- 
mediate and Elementary Schools of Los Angeles." 
Journal of Educational Research, Nov., 1920, pp. 

Dunney, Joseph A., "Departmental Instruction in the 
Intermediate." Catholic Educational Association, 
Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting, New York, 
1920, pp. 296-312. 

Edgerton, A. H., ''Experimental Work in Junior High 
School Industrial Arts." Industrial Arts Magazine, 
July, 1919, pp. 251-55. 

Faulkner, R. P., "Retardation: Its Significance and 
Requirements." Educational Review, Sept., 1909, 
pp. 122-31. 

Finch, C. E., "Junior High School Study Tests." School 
Review, March, 1920, pp. 220-26. 

Fitzgerald, W. J., "Differentiation in the Curriculum of 
the Grammar Grades: Viewpoint of the Junior 
High School." Catholic Educational Association 
Pioceedings, 16th Ann. Meeting, St. Louis, 1919, pp. 
100-114. 

Hines, H. C, "Supervised Study in the Junior High 
School." School and Society, Nov. 3, 1917, pp. 518-22. 

Kirkpati'ick, Lee, "Factors WhicJi Control Curriculum 
Making in the Junior High School." Southern 
School Journal, Jan., 1921, pp. 9-12. 

Lewis, Ervin E., "The Curriculum of the Junior High 
School." Midland Schools, Nov., 1918, pp. 91-92. 

Mackie. Ransom A.. "Education During Adolescence." 
ETP. Button & Co., N. Y., 1920. 

McCormick, P. J., "Retardation- and Elimination of 
Pupils in Our Schools." Catholic Educational 



104 The Junior Iligh School 

Association, Proceedings of the 8tli Ann. Meeting, 
Chicago, 1911, pp. 326-36. 

McGuire, J. W., '* Prcvocatiunal Training." Catholic 
Educational Association. Proceedings of the 14th 
Ann. Meeting, Buffalo, 1917, pp. 239-51. 

Stetson, Paul C, "'The Curriculum of the Jwvior High 
School." Vocational Association of the Middle West. 
Proceedings, 1916, j)p. 130-35. 

Schuetz, Brother John, "Entrance Requirements for the 
Junior High School." Catholic Educational Associ- 
ation, Proceedings of the 16tli Ann. Meeting, St. 
Louis, 1919, pp. 362-72. 

Wetzel, W. A. "The Vocational Try-out in the Junior 
High School." National Association of Secondary 
School Principals. Third Year-Book. Published by 
the Association, 1920, pp. 37-43. 

Whitney, Frank P., "Choosing a Vocation in Junior High 
School." Education, Oct., 1919, pp. 120-25. 

Yeske, L. A. "Helping Pupils to Discover Their Apti- 
tudes." Catholic Educational Association, Proceed- 
ings of the 12th Ann. Meeting, St. Paul, 1915, pp. 
302-12. 

In Particular Places 

Bunker, F. Forest, "A Plan for the Reorganization of 
the Schools at Berkeley" (Cal.). Sierra Educational 
News, Dec, 1909, pp. 13-19. 

Detroit, Michigan, "Handbook of the Detroit Junior High 
Schools." Board of Education, 1916-17. 

"EvansviUe Junior High School, The." Educator- 
Journal, Dec, 1911, p. 219. 

Glass, J. M., "Results of the First Year's Work at 
Washington Junior High School, Rochester, N. Y." 
New York State University Convocation, Proceed- 
ings, 1916, pp. 105-24. 

Gould, Arthur, "The Intermediate Schools of Los 



Its Feasihility in the Catholic Educational System 105 

Angeles." School Review, June, 1920, pp. 419-35. 
Hines, L. N., ''The ' Six-and-Six' Plan in the Public 

Schools of CrawfordsviUe, Indiana." American 

School Board Journal, Feb., 1912, p. 14. 
Horn, P. W., "The Junior High School in Houston, 

Texas." Elementary School Journal, Oct., 1915, pp. 

91-95. 
Lyman, R L., "The Ben Blewett Junior High School of 

St. Louis." School Review, Jan., 1920, pp. 97-111. 
Lyman, R. L., "The Washington Junior High School, 

Rochester, N. Y." School Review, March, 1920, pp. 

178-204. 
Simmonds, F. W., "Six-Year High School in Lewiston, 

Idaho." Educational Administration and Supervi- 
sion, May, 1921, pp. 291-97. 

Miscellaneous 

Albert, Brother, "Content of the Elementary School 
Curriculum." Proceedings Catholic Educational 
Association, 12th Ann. Meeting, St. Paul, 1915, pp. 
233-43. 

Baldwin, Brother, "Causes Which Demand Vocational 
Training in the United States." Proceedings 
Catholic Educational Association, 14th Ann. Meet- 
ing, Buffalo, N. Y., 1917, pp. 376-86. 

Baldwin. B. T., "Physical Grou'tJ) and School Progress." 
U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 10. 

Bunker, F. F., "Reorganization of the Public School 
System." U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1916, 
No. 8. Bibliography. 

Burns, J. A., "The Condition of Catholic Secondary 
Education in the United States." Proceedings 
Catholic Educational Association, 12th Ann. Meeting, 
St. Paul, 1915, pp. 377-440. 

Crathorne, A. R., "Change of Mind Between High School 
and College as to Life Work." Educational Admin- 



106 The Junior High School 

istratioii and supervision, May-June, 1920, pp. 274-84. 

Ei, J. C, ''Difficulties Encowntered hy Religious Super- 
iors in the Professional Training of Their Teachers." 
Proceedings Catholic Educational Association, lOtli, 
Ann. Meeting, 1913, pp. 362-379. 

Howard, F. W., ''The Problem of the Curriculum." 
Proceedings Catholic Educational Association, 10th 
Ann. Meeting, New Orleans, 1913, pp. 132-47. 

Horsa, Bede, ''The Need of Male Teachers in Our Parish^ 
Schools." Proceedings Catholic Educational Associ- 
ation, 10th Ann. Meeting, New Orleans, 1913, pp. 
281-89. 

Meredith, A. B., "Principles Which are to he Used as 
Guides in Classifying and Promoting Children." 
High School Quarterly, April, 1919, pp. 136-41. 

McGolrick, Edward J., "Our School Buildings and Their 
Maintenance." Proceedings Catholic Educational 
Association, 17th Ann. Meeting, New York, 1920, 
pp. 202-10. 

McKenna, J. D. A., "Child Study." Proceedings Catholic 
Educational Association, 10th Ann. Meeting, New 
Orleans, 1913, pp. 403-12. 

McLaughlin, Myles. "Factors in P re-vocational Train- 
ing." Proceedings Catholic Educational Associa- 
tion, 12th Arm. Meeting. St. Paul, 1915. pr). .312-320. 

Ryan, John J. "Vocational Education in a Democratic 
Society." Catholic World, August, 1919, pp. 613-21. 

Ryan, John J., "The Priest's Adaptability for School 
Work." Proceedings Catholic Educational Associ- 
ation, 10th Ann. Meeting, New Orleans, 1913, pp. 
297-304. 

Shields, Thos. E., "Some Relations Betioeen the Catholic 
School System, and the Pnhlic School System " 
Proceedings Catholic Educational Association, 13th 
Ann. Meeting, Baltimore, 1916, pp. 51-62. 



Its Feasibility in the Catholic Educational System 107 

Snedclen, D., "Fundamental Distinctions Between Liberal 
and Vocational Edticatiou." Proceedings National 
Educational Association, 1914, pp. 150-61. Bagley's 
views are given on pages 161-70. 

Thompson, F. W., "Equalising Educational Oppor- 
tunity." Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, Sept., 1915, pp. 453-64. 

U. S. Commissioner of Education, "Classification and 
Promotion of Pupils." Annual Report, 1898-99. Vol. 
I., pp. 302-56. 



w 



VITA 

Joseph Earl Hamill was born in Indianapolis, Indi- 
ana, on January 3, 1886. He received his elementary 
education from the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in St. 
Patrick's school in his native city. In September, 1900, 
he entered St. Meinrad's preparatory seminary at St. 
Mcinrad, Indiana. After completing the classical course 
he was admitted into the major seminary, wdiere he 
studied his Philosophy and Theology. On June 5, 1909, 
he was ordained to the priesthood. Having served as 
assistant priest for three years he was placed in charge 
of a parish. In the year 1919, he entered the Catholic 
University of America. The principal courses pursued 
in his graduate work were in education. He followed the 
courses in School Administration and Supervision and in 
the History of Education under Very Reverend Doctor 
McCormick; the course in the Philosophy of Education 
under the late Very Reverend Doctor Shields ; the course 
in the Psychology of Education under Father McVay; 
and the course in General Methods under Reverend 
Doctor Johnson. The courses of Rt. Reverend Monsignor 
Pace in the Philosophy of the Mind and in Genetic 
Psycholop-y were taken as first minor and the course of 
Reverend Doctor Kerby in General Sociolog>^ was taken 
as second minor. In addition he attended the lectures 
of Doctor Parker in Biology; those of Reverend Doctor 
Moore in General Psychology: and those of Doctor Brock- 
bank in Experimental Educational Psychology. 



